Metric money was a similar issue in the 60s. People still thought in shillings for decades. I read that historically (especially in Britain) entirely different counting systems were used simultaneously. Shepherds had their sheep counting numbers, sailors had a different one.
Dialects ran deep, not long ago.
Incidentally, it's lucky that metric never became known as "The French System."
I'm reminded of this (comical) guide I first saw posted on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/e1hx4f/how_to_c...
At least metric fasteners are becoming common enough that I can use almost 100% in my designs.
The only "in your face" use of imperial is speed limits. Maybe one day that will get fixed.
They use traditional Burmese units. Non-metric doesn't equal imperial/US customary.
Btw before the coup Myanmar seemed to be on a path to finally convert to metric system, but now I think they have bigger issues to worry about.
Humorous view on the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hid7EJkwDNk
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml;jsessionid=8314B6B7A95CC...
As you mentioned, the foot and all other U.S. customary units are based on the International System of Units (SI).
It seems that the US, Myanmar and Liberia, the current users of the imperial system, could join us with minimal or negligible cost.
We could pass a law saying "we're metric now", but it would likely just be a formality while we continue using Imperial.
but to answer your question, I don't think imperial distance units have an advantage with halving. 1 m / 2 = 50 cm, and 50 cm / 2 = 25 cm. no less straightforward than 1 ft / 2 = 6 in, and 6 in / 2 = 3 in. either way we can't go further without creating a fraction. imperial distance has a clear advantage with thirds. 1 ft / 3 = 4 in, but 1 m / 3 is unrepresentable as a decimal number.
of course none of this applies to imperial volume units which are related by various powers of two. these are much easier to halve, but do not have the advantage with thirds.
Inches are typically divided in powers of two. So you don’t have to represent the 5 digitally when dividing (which you can’t in the binary system).
So, if the basic unit you’re designing with is inches, you can scale up easily and add a 3 with the base 12. Or divide using only 2 which helps the computer out
I'm going to use that with one of my European colleagues. And watch their eyes cross as they try to make sense of it.
I think it s better than 200 years ago for sure, but we need to continue merging all standards or we suffer for nothing forever.
These two definitions are off by 2ppm. For all intents and purposes, they are the same. If you measured the distance between San Francisco and New York City, the error in measurement between these two definitions would be between 8 and 9 meters.
Wait...if a yard is 39.37 cm than a foot is 12 1/3 cm, which would make an inch 1 1/36 cm. That's off from 2.54 cm by way more than 2 ppm!
A yard would be exactly 91.44 cm if the inch is 2.54 cm, and something very very close to that if it is 2 ppm from the "inch is 2.54 cm" yard.
Did you copy/paste the wrong thing? A survey foot is 1200/3937 meters (making a yard ~91.44018288 cm), so 3937 would probably be floating around somewhere on any page talking about this.
1 in == 25.4 mm
Therefore US customary units, while not being SI, are just as metric units as the calorie (energy to raise one (metric) gram of water one (metric) degre C.
Switching to metric doesn’t have too many advantages - learn the bloody definitions - but has trillions of dollars of disadvantages (think the capital in machining tools. Now add the cost of training the old guys to metric)
In fact the imperial system has some advantages over metric: the measures are often divided by powers of 2, meaning they can be better represented in binary.
Also, there are some very fun quirks with the imperial system that I love:
1 in == 2.54 cm = 2^8 /100 cm. Very useful if you need to convert from a 64th of an inch.
1 mi ~ phi km. Also very cool.
And then all the history behind those beautiful, since forgotten, customary units.
[im a European-Canadian who moved to the US as an adult; trained on metric my whole life]
When was the inch defined as 2.54 cm? It was within my lifetime, but I don't recall the year.
[Edit: Looks like 1959, which is slightly before my time. It takes a bit for textbooks to catch up...]
https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot
To be clear, the 'foot' used in day to day use has already been standardized to the international foot. It's only in surveying where there's weirdness, and that's what this is resolving in.
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24196228
"Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot" (158c):
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22203919
On the somewhat-related topic of measuring things, interesting book by Simon Winchester called The Perfectionists:
> The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.
[…]
> As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?
* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068671-the-perfectioni...
1in = 2.5cm
1ft = 3dm
1yd = 9dm
1mi = 16092dm
I'm not sure whether it would be more or less likely than eliminating imperial units entirely :/
(edit: This wasn't entirely snark. For reference: the circumference of the earth is ~24901mi. With the new measure it would be ~24903mi, which isn't too shabby)
