Continuing Rant Thread - Get it Off Ya Chest here

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The reason people still prefer to give heights in feet and inches is all to do with the way our brains process information. Essentially we are bad at visualising fractions smaller than a quarter and we are bad at visualising large numbers of things.

So I can give my height as six foot three and a smidge. Visualising six units of a foot is a pretty easy task then adding three units of an inch is easy as well so its an easy measurement to visualise. On the other hand I can give my height at 191cm but now you have to visualise 191 of something to get an idea of how big that is which is hard. Or I can say 1.91m which is a smaller number but now I have to visualise 9/10 of something which is hard. Or I caould say 1m and 91 cm. The 1m is easy but now I'm back to having to visualise 91 of something...

Calling it in decimetres (10cm) could work - I'm 19 decimetres and 1cm. 19 isn't too bad to visualise but it still harder than 6. Cognitively you don't really want to go over 7-9 for visualisation. What we really need is some unit that brings the height of an average human down to less than 9 units. Something around 30cm works well as most people are between 4 and 7 of them. That of course is the foot...

The metric system is great for calculation but it sucks the big one for visualising lengths.
 
Camo6 said:
Worse again when the US decide to build their cars with both imperial and metric fasteners so you're constantly changing tools or scraping knuckles. Not to mention the Ford wiring diagrams we used to be issued where component locations were labelled drivers and passenger side and contained a combination of LH and RH drive information. Seriously, just call it LHS or RHS!
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I need a couple of thow shaved off the head and the buckets re packed with 26 gauge shims.
 
Airgead said:
The reason people still prefer to give heights in feet and inches is all to do with the way our brains process information. Essentially we are bad at visualising fractions smaller than a quarter and we are bad at visualising large numbers of things.

So I can give my height as six foot three and a smidge. Visualising six units of a foot is a pretty easy task then adding three units of an inch is easy as well so its an easy measurement to visualise. On the other hand I can give my height at 191cm but now you have to visualise 191 of something to get an idea of how big that is which is hard. Or I can say 1.91m which is a smaller number but now I have to visualise 9/10 of something which is hard. Or I caould say 1m and 91 cm. The 1m is easy but now I'm back to having to visualise 91 of something...

Calling it in decimetres (10cm) could work - I'm 19 decimetres and 1cm. 19 isn't too bad to visualise but it still harder than 6. Cognitively you don't really want to go over 7-9 for visualisation. What we really need is some unit that brings the height of an average human down to less than 9 units. Something around 30cm works well as most people are between 4 and 7 of them. That of course is the foot...

The metric system is great for calculation but it sucks the big one for visualising lengths.
Click to expand...
How about 1 metre, 1 yard and 1 cm. Nice and easy!
 
Droopy Brew said:
How about 1 metre, 1 yard and 1 cm. Nice and easy!
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I'm sure there is a flaw in your logic somewhere... but I just can't seem to find it...

wide eyed and legless said:
Go into Bunnings and look at the machine thread screws, diameter is in imperial, lengths are in metric, e.g 3/16" dia 40 mm long.
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Yeah. That is just plain weird.
 
The British monetary system is decimal based but still referred to in the traditional way.
Maby the solution for the yanks is to say 10 inches to a foot and 1000 yards to a mile. Thats win, win.
 
Aha. Metrinch tools has that covered.

Mind you, probably not as long lasting as Snap On but ya get that.

introverschil.jpg
 
The AFS spanner has you covered. Metric/Imperial... who cares...
SP048C.jpg
 
You get used to switching between metric and imperial after a while. Imperial does seem ancient though, especially the sizes in between the common ones. 33/64ths haha
 
Airgead said:
The AFS spanner has you covered. Metric/Imperial... who cares...
SP048C.jpg
Click to expand...
Who cares? The bloke who has to fix it after the bloke who used a shifter handballs it!
 
Airgead said:
The reason people still prefer to give heights in feet and inches is all to do with the way our brains process information. Essentially we are bad at visualising fractions smaller than a quarter and we are bad at visualising large numbers of things.

So I can give my height as six foot three and a smidge. Visualising six units of a foot is a pretty easy task then adding three units of an inch is easy as well so its an easy measurement to visualise. On the other hand I can give my height at 191cm but now you have to visualise 191 of something to get an idea of how big that is which is hard. Or I can say 1.91m which is a smaller number but now I have to visualise 9/10 of something which is hard. Or I caould say 1m and 91 cm. The 1m is easy but now I'm back to having to visualise 91 of something...

Calling it in decimetres (10cm) could work - I'm 19 decimetres and 1cm. 19 isn't too bad to visualise but it still harder than 6. Cognitively you don't really want to go over 7-9 for visualisation. What we really need is some unit that brings the height of an average human down to less than 9 units. Something around 30cm works well as most people are between 4 and 7 of them. That of course is the foot...

The metric system is great for calculation but it sucks the big one for visualising lengths.
Click to expand...
I see everything in millimetres
 
mje1980 said:
You get used to switching between metric and imperial after a while. Imperial does seem ancient though, especially the sizes in between the common ones. 33/64ths haha
Click to expand...
If only they made a 1/2 spanner in metric....**** this 12.7mm ********

NOTE...as an owner of an old car that has Whitworth bolts in weird places....
 
Ducatiboy stu said:
MATE...I will give you that one...been there...swore lots...
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To hell with. If you can't beat em...

Just bought a set of these-

aw hell no.jpg
 

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