It's a conspiracy - check your measuring devices

[Egon]

Sure there is, binary. It only has two numbers, 0 and 1. That's gotta be easier. :confused2:

Some folks might think 16.

 

[dave1949]

Works just as well with the metric system as with the SAE system... :laughing:


Using the appropriate unit conversions (ie: M, CM, MM) you can get as accurate as you need to be. If you have tolerances tighter than 1mm, you would have fun with fractions in the SAE system anyways.

Aaron Z

Aaron, you are taking this way too seriously.

It's not a debate about the relative merits of any particular system. It is a possible explanation of why things like a dozen or 12 inches per foot came to be popular ten, fifteen or more centuries ago, well before the metric system was proposed by John Wilkins in a 1668 essay.

There may have been some reason for that popularity, even if those reasons are no longer applicable. It is more an anthropology question than math or measurement related.

 

[rekees4300]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

 

[mikehaugen]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

Instruction manuals would sure be a lot smaller...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

Wow! Do you realize the implications of what you have asked? I would think that as far as making life simpler and more expedient in the short run, the answer would be "Yes". However, I would hate to see the world lose the library of flexibility and diversity that different cultures bring to life on this planet.

 

[jinman]

Has anyone ever worked in a place that calculated hourly time on tenths of hours? Because every 10th is 6 minutes, you really get into some mental gymnastics when you work 15 minutes and can't put 2.5 on a time card because you have to only use even tenths. Some hourly workers had trouble counting anything more than the fingers on their hands and the every 6 minutes = 1/10th just caused their eyes to glaze over. Explaining round-up or round-down was impossible, so we had charts showing what the number of minutes from 1-60 equaled in tenths. Some people were lost without their chart.

 

[dave1949]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

You would need global language police to keep people from wandering off into their own dialects maybe. Good for employment. :laughing: Contrarians would create secret language societies with strange rituals, like burning Webster in effigy.

I don't know if the world would be a better place with a universal language, but it would be entertaining to watch.

You would think the trend would be towards coalescing around a universal language but many consider their language to be inseparable from their heritage or ethnic identity. It's hard to imagine something like the various flavors of Chinese with thousands of symbols to ever hold much attraction for universal adoption.

The scientific world does have a universal measuring system (metric), just as it has a defacto universal language (English).

 

[jinman]

You would think the trend would be towards coalescing around a universal language but many consider their language to be inseparable from their heritage or ethnic identity.

You are right, Dave. After all a fiesta and siesta sounds more romantic than a picnic and a nap.

 

[cqaigy2]

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...=GAlmcpbeF2wqwXs5q796Yg&bvm=bv.53217764,d.b2I

This is more what I was thinking of.

I hafta admit to thinking hex first.

 

[dave1949]

Base 10 and powers of two incompatibility (from Egon's link), I didn't consider that. I used to do a lot of 0,2,4,8,16, ... manipulations for one thing or another. Never thought about 10 not making an appearance.

One thing about going to a mixed numeral-character numbering system is the confusion it would cause. You would have to do mental conversions to continue using your current simple calculators. :laughing:

It would mess up some programs too. Anything that parses through text trying to break it down into separate fields or for validation, for example. That is common in form and data entry, data conversion and data cleaning programming.

I suppose there is room for some new numeric characters in the extended ASCII sets, but oh, the implementation. It would be Y2K times a million. Based on the riches to made for IT folks, we better start hyping this idea. :laughing:

 

[mikehaugen]

It would have worked great if our base numbering system had 12 (or16) numbers to begin with, then you wouldn't need letters. But who is going to go and change that!

 

[dave1949]

It would have worked great if our base numbering system had 12 (or16) numbers to begin with, then you wouldn't need letters. But who is going to go and change that!

A large army of consultants, just like Y2K. Dream it, and they will come like bears to honey. :laughing:

 

[Larro Darro]

How many Fircans in a Hogshead?

1 hogshead =
5.82871688 firkins

It's according to what's in the hogshead. It changes for beer, wine and other products. But I think a firkin is always eight gallons Imp.

Edit: I was wrong. A firkin of ale is 8, but it is 9 for beer.

Barrel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Larro Darro]

Now I know why I weigh almost 16 stone. I confused my teaspoon with a tablespoon when I was eating ice cream. {it's not my fault}

 

[mikehaugen]

Now I know why I weigh almost 16 stone. I confused my teaspoon with a tablespoon when I was eating ice cream. {it's not my fault}

Are those "rolling stones"? :laughing:

 

[Larro Darro]

Are those "rolling stones"? :laughing:

They are English, so it might be.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

Gene Roddenberry thought so...

 

[Egon]

Question - would the world be a better place if everyone used the same measuring system and spoke the same language?

Depends a lot on how big your world is!

 

[Wagtail]

It would have worked great if our base numbering system had 12!

We partially do have a base 12 system... it's why time is kept in multiples/divisions of 12.

 

[Bird]

Has anyone ever worked in a place that calculated hourly time on tenths of hours? Because every 10th is 6 minutes, you really get into some mental gymnastics when you work 15 minutes and can't put 2.5 on a time card because you have to only use even tenths. Some hourly workers had trouble counting anything more than the fingers on their hands and the every 6 minutes = 1/10th just caused their eyes to glaze over. Explaining round-up or round-down was impossible, so we had charts showing what the number of minutes from 1-60 equaled in tenths. Some people were lost without their chart.

Yep, when I worked for the Post Office in the late '50s early '60s, we punched a time clock that used tenths.