why can't i grasp metrics?

[B_Hickboy]

Ah dunno. Round here we measure by cups, handfuls, bushels,pecks, bucketfuls, shitpotfuls, pinches, dashes, and washtubs. We do just fine and I think your all ignernrt.

 

[surferboy]

yah, like i said, i know my english -> metrics and metrics -> english

it's when i have to convert metric -> metirc. like i said, cm to mm


but i think i figured it out. if i wanna go to a smaller unit, i multiply (i know when for use 10, 1000, etc) and when i wanna go bigger, i divide, yah?

 

[D_Kissimmee Coldsore]

Yeah, when you're using smaller units you'll need more of them: multiply. Vice versa.

I think if you get to grips with the prefixes you'll find it easier and more intuitive:
SI prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix#List_of_SI_prefixes

 

[D_Rawkesbye Deadheade]

Let's all go SI! Although when that is not convenient Metric is the next best thing. Imperial? No, no, no!

 

[Jovial]

I couldn't care less what system the US (or any nation uses) because one is comfortable with measures one knows - but the inherent mathematical simplicity and harmony of the decimal system over the variable imperial system is surely undeniable, even by you.

It's not always simpler. Since 12 is divisible by 2, 3 and 4, in certain contexts measuring things in feet and inches is simpler. Divide a meter by 3 and you get 33.3333 cm, but if you divide a foot by 3 you get a nice, neat, even 4 inches. So I wouldn't say the simplicity is undeniable in all contexts.

 

[crescendo69]

So just how long is a 7.3" dick?

Inches are divided into halves, fourths, and eighths (sometimes sixteenths, etc.). "7.3" means seven and three-tenths.

Sorry if this was already discussed; I haven't read every post.

 

[surferboy]

Yeah, when you're using smaller units you'll need more of them: multiply. Vice versa.

I think if you get to grips with the prefixes you'll find it easier and more intuitive:
SI prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i got the prefixes down brah, but mahalo anyways. like i said, it's more knowing for multiply or divide. but i think i got it now


if i'm moving to one smaller kine unit, i multiple, and if i'm going to one bigger kine unit, i divide.

 

[ledroit]

Metric is a silly system invented by the French. The American system is far more colorful and occasionally more accurate. Viva cultural differences!

?? I haven't read all the posts, but logically, it is not possible to say that one system of measurement is more "accurate" than another.

Accuracy within a system can only be determined by the system itself.

If you split a unit (whether it is an inch or a cm) into 100 parts, or 1000 parts, the one with the most number of parts will be more accurate, since the # of parts increases precision. Measuring things in nano-seconds, therefore, can be more precise than measuring them in fractions of a year.

It doesn't matter whether the fractions are of an inch or a meter. It's the number of fractions within a unit in a given system that affect accuracy.
So you can't say that an inch is more accurate than a cm. Makes no sense whatsoever.

But there is a second issue, intelligibility or meaningfulness. You can say that measuring things in tiny fractions of an inch or meter increases the accuracy of the measurement, because of the shift in scale. To measure the speed of light in nanoseconds would not be very accurate, however, because the # of nanoseconds would be so huge it would be nearly unmanageable conceptually, if not unintelligible. So accuracy also requires intelligibility in order to have meaning or value.

Does this address the "accuracy" issue?

 

[kalipygian]

So just how long is a 7.3" dick?

Inches are divided into halves, fourths, and eighths (sometimes sixteenths, etc.). "7.3" means seven and three-tenths.

Sorry if this was already discussed; I haven't read every post.

Inches can just as easily be divided into tenths and hundedths. It is much more convenient if you are using a calculator, such as when doing round layout, and need to go from circumference to diameter. I use a ruler and tape measure that are divided that way, I prefer it. I use continuous inches, and ignore feet.

A standard framing square has one leg has marks with the inches divided into tenths and twentieths.

 

[Mem]

if i'm moving to one smaller kine unit, i multiple, and if i'm going to one bigger kine unit, i divide.

At first I thought you were a genius and that I had to look up what Kine units were. Then I put two and two together.

 

[vince]

When I worked as a carpenter we had a another specialist unit of measure. It's called the "cunt hair".

For example, if you want Joe to move the beam just a little bit, to place it just so, you might call out to him, "Joe! Tap it this way a cunt hair!" Joe might ask, "What colour?!" You reply blonde, red, or black depending on how big a cunt hair you want him to move it. Or you can say "That door is a cunt hair out of square."

Very useful, but don't ask me what the metric equivalent is...

 

[MickeyLee]

When I worked as a carpenter we had a another specialist unit of measure. It's called the "cunt hair".

For example, if you want Joe to move the beam just a little bit, to place it just so, you might call out to him, "Joe! Tap it this way a cunt hair!" Joe might ask, "What colour?!" You reply blonde, red, or black depending on how big a cunt hair you want him to move it. Or you can say "That door is a cunt hair out of square."

Very useful, but don't ask me what the metric equivalent is...

a twat hair?

 

[ManlyBanisters]

No - we have more cunts than twats in europe..

It must be a modern equivalent of the archaic 'pubit' - perhaps the metric version is poil du chat?