xkcd helps us understand the metric system

POSTED BY: daveshayne
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 18:23
VIEWED: 4051
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DAVESHAYNE

Monday, January 5, 2009 1:30 PM

With the aid of Summer and the rest of Serenity's crew.

http://xkcd.com/526/

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

TINFOIL

Monday, January 5, 2009 4:13 PM

Enjoyed this comic quite a bit. Thought of this site as soon as I read it!

There's also a discussion on Fark about an article listing the 20 most wanted Sci-Fi products seen in movies. Although Fruity Oaty Bars didn't make the list, many have expressed interest for the presumably nummy product in the forums. Any one product that can rapidly expand the bust-line of a woman and turn rodents into men gets my nod!

RALLEM

Monday, January 5, 2009 6:14 PM

Several years ago I played Everquest with a British Guild called the Defenders of Fae on the Xegony server and a bunch of my British friends, my American friends, and I got onto Ventrilo so we could all speak together for raids. One of my British friends kept calling things in the billion range millions so I told him he was wrong, which made him angry and he said that they invented the language so they can call what ever they want what ever they want. I didn't want to argue the point that they invented the language, so I politely said they may have invented the language, but they didn't invent the numbering system because that was done by the Greeks and they made it so every 10 to the 3rd digit received a new name like kilo, mega, and giga, or thousand, million, and billion. I won’t say that was the reason the Brits are now calling a billion a billion because it has been several years, but later on in that raid another Brit guild mate said we American are so stupid that we can’t even understand the metric system. I told him that we understood the metric system just fine and just choose not to use it. That other Brit asked me why because the metric system was better. I replied that the system could be better, but just because they chose to be like the French and use the metric system does not mean we have to. All of the Brits in the guild from that time on used the British System of Weights and Measures when describing things like in game distances. I have seen a few shows on the BBC America and now see that they have reverted back to using the British System of Weights and Measures when describing things like distances and weights.

http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

IMNOTHERE

Monday, January 5, 2009 9:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rallem:
but they didn't invent the numbering system because that was done by the Greeks and they made it so every 10 to the 3rd digit received a new name like kilo, mega, and giga

Fine. That's one numbering system. 10^9 Dollars is one Gigadollar. No probs.

Meanwhile, in another equally sensible numbering system, a billion was a million to the power of two or "bi-million" - geddit? Likewise, "trillion" was a million to the power of 3 or "tri-million". Perfectly sensible.

Quote:
but just because they chose to be like the French and use the metric system does not mean we have to.

On the other hand, because the Americans chose to be like the French and use the French definition of "Billion" - see the Timeline on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_(word) - everybody else has to. Does that seem fair to you?

Quote:
I have seen a few shows on the BBC America and now see that they have reverted back to using the British System of Weights and Measures

...and as part of a generation which was never properly taught the British "Imperial" system of units* - (because in the early 70s all sensible people assumed that it would be rapidly following the archaic British currency system into the dustbin of history) I deeply resent that we're now stuck with a system in which you buy petrol by the litre** and distances are measured in miles.

One problem is that if you're going to switch to metric from British/Imperial units, schools really need to spend less time failing to teach kids fractions and more time teaching them place notation and decimals. The British schools didn't really "get" the metric system - it tended to be taught by rote like the Imperial system without attempting to get the underlying logic.

* Its not even as if the British "Imperial" system is the same as the American "British" system!!! Gah!

** OK, you can have my pint of beer when you prise it from my cold dead fingers***, but the paperwork should say 568ml (see * above).

*** and if its good English beer it will keep those fingers warm for a while!

Meanwhile, shouldn't we all be using approved Internet units, as described here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/vulture_central_standards/

BYTEMITE

Monday, January 5, 2009 9:31 PM

Imperial units are annoying to work with in calculations.

An acre is 640 square feet, a mile is 5280 feet, a cup is 8 fl. oz or 16 tablespoons... BLARGH.

And then when you try to convert them into something that makes sense it's all decimals, long inexact approximate decimals.

TRAVELER

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 1:49 AM

There are sites on the web to help with conversions. Metric works pretty good, because every thing is in tenths. No 12 inches to a foot or 3 feet to a yard.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 1:59 AM

Yeah, I know. And it's not that hard to convert, but I never remember the numbers so I always have to look them up. ._. It's a hassle.

TRAVELER

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:08 AM

Back in the early Seventies, we in the United States, were told we would go metric in ten years. But we are a stubborn lot and very few industries have done this. When I took a physics, course some years ago, we used metric. So it may take a few more decades, but it is coming.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by traveler:
Back in the early Seventies, we in the United States, were told we would go metric in ten years. But we are a stubborn lot and very few industries have done this. When I took a physics, course some years ago, we used metric. So it may take a few more decades, but it is coming.

Umm, you mean the 1870's?
The official measuring system of the United States has been the metric system since, like 1879 or similar.

RALLEM

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 11:30 AM

I understand that the "Treaty of Meter" was signed in 1875 in Paris France, but I think Traveler was talking about the 1970s because I too remember them saying in school that America will be metric in only ten years time.

http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

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