Do you think we should switch to metric or what?

[SHISHKABOB]

Should America become Metric or should we stay Customary? Or should we do other things?

[SexForTwo]

I never understood why you Americans stayed as Imperial. :D

It's harder than you think. The whole country is literally Imperial. Things go wrong horribly if a change is sudden. Like the Italian Lira changing to the Euro. Shop owners rounded up the conversions and made easy profits. Stuff could go awry then.

America's too big for such a large change. Maybe state by state.

[pixels]

metric is much easier. imperial is just random; its annoying.

i say switch.

[Carnage]

Quite good for a second post, SHISHKABOB. Have a cookie and a friendly spooning. :)

[Nahotnoj]

Imperial...? I live in america, and WTF is imperial?

[UED77]

EDIT: Nahotnoj, Imperial or Customary is the system of measurements the United States so extensively uses. Visit this Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unit) for a more detailed explanation.



Metric - or rather - SI - is based on units of 10, which, altho not the best choice for a number system base, is so widespread, that it's logical to use units of 10.

Altho I am an advocate of SI, I think the change can only be done over an extended period of time, and lots of incompatibilities would arise from the different standards that would exist during this transition period. But on the long run, it would be worth it.

UED77

[Battlecruiser]

Well actually we CAN make the change. I live in the United States and we first learnt the imperial way, but now they tought us the metric system. I find the metric system MUCH more simpler. I could teach that to a 4 year old. The numbers are so simple. Instead of random numbers such as the imperial system, the metric system makes sense and it also makes converting such an ease.

[Whiteknight]

Quite good for a second post, SHISHKABOB. Have a cookie and a friendly spooning. :)
Aw, what happened to my friendly spooning?

Bah, anyone who thinks Imperial is easy has something coming. Metric is the logical way of measurement, it's based on a system of tens. For temperature, the point at where water boils and freezes, divided by 100. Simplistic, instead of random numbers like 212 and 32. :tu:

Besides, the US has a different Imperial system than everyone else, like ounces. Bah, stupid.

The only good thing that comes from Imperial is when you are driving, it is quick to estimate how long it will take to get somewhere if you are going 60mph. I still prefer km, though.

[BSTRhino]

The metric system is standard in the scientific world. I think most other countries use the metric system as well. It would make sense to me.

[WeekendLazyness]

Well, it seems that the US tried to switch to the metric system, but failed. We have 2-Liter bottles of soda, our engine displacements are in Liters, and so on. I think we should, but then there are fat white men afriad of change and elephants keeping us from doing just that. :bigsmile:

[Grom_Icecream]

I find the metric system much easier. I never really used the Imperial so im not sure how it works. I thought it was based on the number 12 or something.... enlighten me...

[GrassDragon]

I would say switch. It's much easier to do conversions in metric and it just makes more sense. As the Mac users say, switch!

[peace_machine]

Swiching to the metric system would make it alot easier for me to compare/reference things. Screw what America thinks, change for me!

[Nahotnoj]

EDIT: Nahotnoj, Imperial or Customary is the system of measurements the United States so extensively uses. Visit this Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unit) for a more detailed explanation.

Ok, Im from the US, I had just never heard it refered to as imperial before.

[hammocksleeper]

I think the entire world should switch to a metric-type system, but this system would be in Base 11 instead of Base 10. It would be so much better and we would get full use out of our ten fingers.

[Whiteknight]

I think the entire world should switch to a metric-type system, but this system would be in Base 11 instead of Base 10. It would be so much better and we would get full use out of our ten fingers.
That didn't quite make sense. If it was in Base 11, then we would get full use out of our fingers, but we would always be one finger short...

[hammocksleeper]

That didn't quite make sense. If it was in Base 11, then we would get full use out of our fingers, but we would always be one finger short...No we wouldn't. Think about it. Right now we use a Base 10 system. So you are counting on your fingers, you go, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. But you only really need 9 fingers. For Base Eleven, you go, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A (means 10) and you use all ten of your fingers.

[Whiteknight]

Well, no fingers means 0. If you use your first finger only, then wouldn't that mean 1, not 11?

[hammocksleeper]

Well, no fingers means 0. If you use your first finger only, then wouldn't that mean 1, not 11?You're right. You can forget I said "at eleven use just one finger" This was for if you were counting by 11, rather than by 1.

[Whiteknight]

So that means that base 11 does not work with fingers and base 10 does, right?

Besides, 10 just makes more sense, as everything is based on it, and it is much easier to multiply, add, divide, subtract by 10.

[hammocksleeper]

So that means that base 11 does not work with fingers and base 10 does, right?

Besides, 10 just makes more sense, as everything is based on it, and it is much easier to multiply, add, divide, subtract by 10.No, it means base 10 works on your fingers, but base 11 works better.

You only think doing math with Base 10 is easier because that's what you've known your entire life. If you had grown up with Base 11 it would have been just as easy, perhaps easier when you factor in the fingers. Of course switching to Base 11 means everything will have to change, but it's not impossible, and in the long run, it's better.

[Whiteknight]

No, 10 would still be easiest. Think about it, multiplying by 10 adds on decimal place, dividing by 10 subtracts one decimal place, subtracting 10 is just lowering one number, adding 10 is just adding one number.

I'm still confused about how the base 11 would work... For base 10, 1 finger=1, 2=2, ... 10=10, right? So what is Base 11? 0 fingers = 1, 1=2, ... 10=11?

[hammocksleeper]

No, 10 would still be easiest. Think about it, multiplying by 10 adds on decimal place, dividing by 10 subtracts one decimal place, subtracting 10 is just lowering one number, adding 10 is just adding one number.

I'm still confused about how the base 11 would work... For base 10, 1 finger=1, 2=2, ... 10=10, right? So what is Base 11? 0 fingers = 1, 1=2, ... 10=11?No no no you are thinking all wrong. Base 11 has different place values than Base 10. That's the whole point!

Base 10 place values go up like 1, 10, 100, 100, 10000, 100000 etc. right?
Well, Base 11 place values go up like 1, 11, 121, 1331, 14641, 161051

or in other words Base 10 place values are 10^0, 10^1, 10^2, 10^3, 10^4, 10^5 etc.
and Base 11 place values are 11^0, 11^1, 11^2, 11^3, 11^4, 11^5 etc.


Ok, first list is numbers in Base 10. Second list is their equivalents in Base 11.


0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 A
11 10
12 11
13 12
14 13
15 14
16 15
17 16
18 17
19 18
20 19
21 1A
22 20
23 21

etc.

Get it? Base Eleven would work the same way. Multiplying by 10 [10 being 11 in base 10] would add one place value, etc.

[Whiteknight]

Okay, it's the weekend and my brain has already shut down. I was saying things wrong before, yeah, I get that, but I still don't really get base 11. A? 1A? But not being 10 or 20? Urg...

I'll take your word for it, my brain is hurting from trying to understand it. I'll try later, maybe I can make sense of it. Or not, maybe my brain just isn't wired that way to understand something like that in one night, especially one that my life is based on. Oh well, I'll take your word for it.

[OboeGuru]

Sorry, but Base 10 is much easier for the general populace to understand than any other base, mostly because that's how almost everything is structured now and has been structured for decades if not centuries. The whole world will simply not pick up a whole new base system.

As for US conversion, it would be nice yes, but is it realistic? If you're talking conversion within the next century, yes. Within the next decade or so, I'm inclinded to say no, we'd have to start teaching just the SI system in grade schools and label everything double until the older generation has died off.

[blkmage]

It's not that difficult to learn metric.
I never understood how Imperial worked.
Of course, we still use both no matter what.
We just prefer metric.

Counting in base 11 is like counting in hexadecimal.

Base 11 uses A because there's no one digit number for 11.

[Whiteknight]

Sorry, but Base 10 is much easier for the general populace to understand than any other base, mostly because that's how almost everything is structured now and has been structured for decades if not centuries. The whole world will simply not pick up a whole new base system.

As for US conversion, it would be nice yes, but is it realistic? If you're talking conversion within the next century, yes. Within the next decade or so, I'm inclinded to say no, we'd have to start teaching just the SI system in grade schools and label everything double until the older generation has died off.
Look at Canada and see how long it took them to convert from Imperial to Metric. It won't take as long as you think. 30 years, max, for a society as stubborn as the USA.

[Kahuzal]

I take advage of people who can't covert between the two... I forget what the two units were, but it was somthing like

"one dollar for every 156 metric/120 imperial" and I was like "Can I take the metric deal please?" since it was cheeper, then I laughed.

[Nuts]

America will switch to the metric system when the rest of the world accepts English as their first language. Fair enough?

[Kahuzal]

Anglo Saxon english? (http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/hwaet/hwaet_toc.html) That would be a frightening day indeed.

[Frattimonde]

Should America become Metric or should we stay Customary? Or should we do other things?
I think most people would have trouble letting go.
But It would be for the better, much easier.

[Kahuzal]

Lots of American engineers are really big on metrics... I saw one who never shutup about the damn thing. "oh lets just go for about 3 meters to the line, and look at this 1.5 cenemeter coin!"

[singo]

I live in Britain, my advice is dont bother, i still use feet and inches unless im doing something where millimetres are convinient.

metres are to big for small work, kilometres are to small for big work...inches, feet and miles = much better

[Saffyr]

Most people in Britain are fairly adept at both. Although everything gets sold in metric units miles are still used on road signs and in cars, people still use feet and inches for height and they use stones and pounds for weight. And I don't think that anything in the world will ever stop pubs serving beer in pints. :)

[hammocksleeper]

And I don't think that anything in the world will ever stop pubs serving beer in pints. :)When I have been in Europe, everything is like 50cl (actually less than a pint, but that is their equivalent). But yeah pints are bigger therefore better.

[Frattimonde]

One word.

"Metric."

[Battlecruiser]

I agree, I can't understand the base 11 system either, but then again, I just played 4 soccer games of 70 minutes each. Oboeguru is right. 5 years isn't a realitic possibility. Maybe 20-30 years is.

[Mechsaurian]

I personally like the metric system much better (based on 10s rather than 16's, 12's, and 5280's) but I doubt the USA will change. We've used the customary system for so long that people might have trouble accepting it.

[singo]

When I have been in Europe, everything is like 50cl (actually less than a pint, but that is their equivalent). But yeah pints are bigger therefore better.
i dunno.......if they sold it in litres :P

[Kamikazie190]

Look at Canada and see how long it took them to convert from Imperial to Metric. It won't take as long as you think. 30 years, max, for a society as stubborn as the USA.
You vastly underestimate the stubborness of America. It'd be nice, I prefer kilometers to miles just for math purposes, you get alot stranger numbers trying to figure out how many feet is in...say, 17 miles than how many meters are in 30 kilometers... I think alot of people find it easier, but the problem is if you say something like '80 centimeters' nobody has any idea what that is in Imperial.

[Kampfer_ms18e]

:) yes do change to metric like us canadians, at least we don't have to deal with gallons of gas whenever we travel to the US. (;^^)
Kampfer, over and out
www.splashpagecomics.com/ model/0100366.jpg

[Sperate]

If by some miracle we switched to base 11, someone, somewhere, would created the 11th digit. Unfortunatly, much of our language is based on 10s. I'd prefer if base 10 was used everywhere. Europe is whre I go when I'm 18.

[Sandman]

Agreed.

[slicingstickman]

I'm american and I think the metric system is so much easier to use

[xjudicator]

I'm not against using the metric system or anything, but I like using the U.S. system more. To me it is just more comfortable than switching over to the metric or another system. It is easier to visualize or use the metric system in mathematics, but it is more practical to me anyway to continue to use the U.S. system for everyday use. (If there is every day use. For me, that is.)

I really don't see why it is so important to switch over anyway. There is no apparent rush or need. People have found simple ways to convert the units and it isn't that much of a hassle unless you are that really lazy type. And even I lazy.

[ArU23-1]

I agree.

[Ole-The-Murder]

Kampfer, here is your image....only, working this time.
http://www.splashpagecomics.com/model/0100366.jpg
...Atleast, I hope...I think....I'd like to believe, ack - Nevermind......

[overdramatic]

metric, it would make math so much easier

[Ole-The-Murder]

I incline to agree. Though I don't live in America, I advise you Americans to stop be so melodramatically afraid of...SHIT! A change of distance/length/width measuring....you must really be shitting your pants know, a dramatic change threathening your entire way of life, huh? You're not your fucking capitalism, I say...then I rest my case from hither on..atleast, I hope :D

[Modred]

A large number of products now place both English Customary and SI (Metric) units on containers in America. However, the SI units are usually smaller since the English system is more prevalent among the American public. I personally like the metric system except for one thing. By switching from gallons to litres, the gasoline companies could increase prices and stupid people too lazy to do conversions would not realize how much more money they were spending, they would just know it cost more for the same amount of gas.

Anyway, all that would be necessary to switch the US to SI is to make the SI units on containers larger than the English units, and after say...ten to twenty years, just leave the English units off altogether.

[Ole-The-Murder]

Then it's perhaps a bit egoistic for us to say "metric, because it makes math easier." when it will make car fuel more expensive for alot other than you - such as? Car drivers, of course, ya dizzy cunt! Oops, there I go again, insulting you. Nevertheless, it was nothing personal, though...just mere reaction! It could've been anybody, heck, it could've even been me, but most probably you....

[Spdstr]

Yah, I mean sure inches, feet, etc. makes u different, but why not be like everyone else? it'd make it easier for... wait! No, we shouldn't. Perhaps they dont' want to because other countries would have harder times figuring out how to "Steal" plans for something ;).

Member,
~ Spdstr