Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[Jon]

Metric vs. other measurement systems.




Previously:

How pirates stole the metric system from America - photos
English/metric measurement error in the Mars Climate Orbiter

[Karl_H]

But the metric system is too confusing for most of us?

[Frank S]

But the metric system is too confusing for most of us?

I must have paid better attention in school when I first started learning about the metric system it must have been somewhere around the mid 60's the one thing I figured out right away was metrics followed out monetary counting using the pennies as mm dimes as Cm, dollars as meters and the 1000.00 dollar bill as the kilometer

[DIYSwede]

If I'm not mistaken, the pic shows some Imperial length units and
their different relative factors (and their multiplicative inverses: 1/x), all 42 of them:
7/8, 1 (sic!), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 63, 96, 100, 120, 1760 & 6080

AFAIK: This subject got pretty much flogged to death two years ago...
Suggested reading for die-hard masochists with time to spare:

How pirates stole the metric system from America - photos

-Thanks Jon, for bringing back exactly that, what I've laboriously tried to suppress ever since...

[hemmjo]

The history of measurement is indeed a fascinating one. Reading about the evolution of various measurement systems give us a perspective on the creativity of our ancestors. Knowing the history of measurement helps us understand the reasons for so many different units. I began teaching in the mid 70's when the convert to metric movement was in full swing the USA. Oh what fun that was. My contention then, as now, is that if you truly know HOW to measure, you will choose the unit appropriate what you are measuring and and audience you are measuring it for.

For your enjoyment..

[jatt]

Despite the fact my schooling was done with the metric system, have had to become reasonably familiar with imperial -- dealing with "old people" (ducks a flying spanner). Then theres the fact that a fair bit of the caravan stuff I deal with is still in feet. So I ensure all the tape measures in the shop have both measurements on them.

Base 10 number system --- dunno how difficult that can be!!

Bought a block in town about 15 years ago -- damn thing was still measured in links (subset of chains apparently). Even my solicitor (well into his 60s back then) had to pull out the conversion tables for that one.

[IntheGroove]

How many fingers is a lid...

[mklotz]

...Bought a block in town about 15 years ago -- damn thing was still measured in links (subset of chains apparently). Even my solicitor (well into his 60s back then) had to pull out the conversion tables for that one.

The link is fascinating. The original area measure was an acre, the area of land a man could plow in a day, It was a furlong long, an eighth of a mile, and a chain wide, said chain being 66 feet long. When the need for a unit finer than a chain surfaced, some yokel decided to abandon the much touted inferial superiority of many divisors and divided it into one hundred links. It was a noble effort to introduce decimal simplicity but sadly left us with a link that is a comical 0.66 feet long - not 2/3 of a foot but close enough for folks who like to measure things with antiquated, outdated systems.

[Unkle Fuzzy]

The chain got me to thinking about Rods. I 330ft rolls of cattle fencing and that roll is also listed as 1 Rod turns out that 1 Rod equals 500 Links....

[mklotz]

The chain got me to thinking about Rods. I 330ft rolls of cattle fencing and that roll is also listed as 1 Rod turns out that 1 Rod equals 500 Links....

Hmm, this quote from Wikipedia seems to contradict that...

The rod or perch or pole (sometimes also lug) is a surveyor's tool[1] and unit of length of various historical definitions, often between 3 and 8 meters. In modern US customary units it is defined as ​16 1⁄2 US survey feet, equal to exactly ​1⁄320 of a surveyor's mile, or a quarter of a surveyor's chain, and is approximately 5.0292 meters.

At 16.5 feet, a rod would be 16.5/0.66 = 25 links, a quarter of a surveyor's chain.