nitpick wrote:And the only reason that we think basing anything on ten units is a good idea is because we were accidentally born with ten fingers, vice a much more useful twelve or six.

And chairs would be different if our knees bent the other way. You think that sunlight is heavy in the visual spectrum because we were accidentally born with that sensitivity, too, hunh?
Lots of how we do things are based on our physical forms. We're GOOD at base ten because we have ten fingers. If we had six on each hand, we'd be right into a English vs duodecimal (although we'd have called it something else) system argument.

nitpick wrote:A hundred degrees on the Fahrenheit scale is a pretty damn hot day. Zero on the same scale means it's pretty freaking cold outside. Zero on the Celsius scale? I dunno, you better bring a coat but you might not need it. A hundred? The planet is on fire and you're dead.
Bleh.

This is the argument that the ignorant and lazy constantly make. I'm not going to call you ignorant or lazy, I don't know you that well. I do know some ignorant and lazy folk, though, and this is their argument.

Take the number of kilometers and multiply by six. Then move the decimal point over one. Miles.
Double your Centigrade temps, and then subtract 10%. Add thirty two, and VOILA, Fahrenheit.
None of these conversions are hard, none are time consuming, and while you may not have to convert cubic miles to cubic inches very often, LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of metric conversions are easily done in your head that would require a friend, a calculator, and a reference book to make in standard measure.

Lots of people in lots of places use a local form of currency. People seem to get used to it, once they know how much common items cost, and how much they earn. It doesn't seem to matter if it's dollars, yuan, shekels, or rupees - people get used to using them.

Familiarity with any system is possible.

nitpick wrote:If it's thirty-two on the Fahrenheit scale, pure water at a standard atmosphere (101.325 kilo-Pascals in the United States, 100 kPa elsewhere where metric orthodoxy values round numbers more than accuracy) freezes.

I don't see that as materially affecting the ease with which we can calibrate thermometers globally.

And even though God gave me the wrong number of fingers for really kick-ass math skills, I can still count on zero of them the number of times I've needed to quickly convert from cubic inches to cubic miles.

Just say no to base-10. Fahrenheit forever. Gotta go gallons!

You must not be an engineer then. Converting units in English system is stupid, and leads to lots of mistakes. It's much easier in the metric system.

Ken Fox wrote:To anyone reading this thread: I did not start a thread with this title. This thread was obviously split off another one, and where it got split resulted in my being the "author" of this useless thread.

Au contraire. I for one find this topic very interesting as it addresses an issue which i never realized i knew so little. And it's on Knockbox. I would be proud to have authored this topic

gsylvest wrote: I can convert easily enough (good approximation: Celsius x 2 and then add 30 for F) but typically typically just think in one or other.

Once you're there, it's way too easy to get accurate data.

If you can multiply by two, you can then subtract ten percent of that (subtract the number from itself, moving the decimal point on the subtrahend, or the number being taken away from the total) and then add thirty two.

100 times two is 200, minus ten percent (or 20) is 180, plus thirty two is 212.

The other way 'round you just subtract 32, add and then divide by two, and add ten percent. That's still a very close guesstimate in the end, but it's very close, and it's math that you can do in your head.

212 minus 32 is 180, divided by two is 90, plus ten percent is 99, with a one degree 'oops' at boiling temperature.

Psyd wrote:Once you're there, it's way too easy to get accurate data.

It's even easier to use a conversion app on a smart phone

Ken Fox wrote:Believe it or not, Boeing still uses English units in their jet manufacture.

Yes, and remember that the Mars lander crashed into the planet because one half of the team was using metric, and one half was using English . . . .

I find it easier for me to keep roasting units in centigrade. For example, I keep the rate of temperature rise 8C-10C/min before first crack, and 5C/min after first crack. It will be quite difficult for me to keep a mental picture in F.

At work I use mg, mcg, or pg per mL or dL. Sometimes I get reports in the real SI units of mmol and really have to use a convertor.