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from the How-many-slugs-to-the-stone? dept.
AnonTechie writes:
"I have the following requests to members of this new forum:
1) Please use SI Units wherever possible. Alternative comparative units such as swimming pools, size of Florida, cars, libraries of congress, etc are also welcome ...
2) Please cover tech/science related stories from around the world. Please do not make this a US only website !!
Cheers and best wishes,
AnonTechie"
[ED Note: We as a community welcome submissions from around the world, as befits our international userbase. The Editorial team in particular is looking closely at including voices from outside the U.S. as we continue to grow. As for the units question in particular, stories will certainly arrive with a variety of units depending on the origin of the submission. We encourage, though do not require, submitters to include conversions where appropriate for clarity out of courtesy to your fellow readers. Though we try to use a light touch when making edits to story submissions, Editors may add these from time to time as well, should clarity demand and time permit.
Soylentils, does the current ad-hoc approach meet your needs, or do you favor a more formal approach from your news discussion site?]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 24 2014, @04:50PM
you may think it's convenient to call a cup of something "1 cup", but do you mean 250ml(ca), 236ml(us), 240ml...
A cup is half a pint, which is half a quart, which is 1/4 of a gallon. Metric's strength is the fact that it's digital and you can make it as precise as you want. OTOH Imperial is based on fractions; an inch is 1/12th of a foot, a foot is 1/3 of a yard, etc. With cooking, fractions are handier than decimals, in a scientific or engineering endeavor where you use precise values, metric is better.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by beckett on Tuesday February 25 2014, @03:36AM
You need to explain the cup/pint/quart/gallon relationship: how is this more intuitive or handier than looking at 'centimeter' and realizing there are 100 of them in a meter?
if the directions say add a 'quart of milk', it could mean 1136ml in the UK, or 946ml in the states resulting in different dishes. however, if you use 1L of milk in the uk, and 1L of milk in australia, they're the same measure. I really think there's no need to limit thinking in units of 10 should be relegated to 'scientific or engineering endeavours'. 10 is the same number of fingers most of us were born with.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday February 25 2014, @02:10PM
It isn't more intuitive, there's nothing intuitive about any measuring system. It's more amenable to fractions than metric, which is based on decimals. Decimal math is hard with impreial units but dirt-simple with metric. So which is easier depends on whether you're using a slide rule or a computer.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org