8 thoughts on “the continuing saga of metric vs. imperial”

  2. Well, our revolution happened before the metric system was developed.

    Also, the metric system is used in the US to some extent and will probably be the main system in another generation or two.

    • There were attempts to convert the U.S. to the metric system. I remember that was in the seventies and eighties. Even some road speed limit signs were in Metric and cars made then had speedometers in both English and Metric. Even some with digital gauges could be changed with a push of a button.
      You don’t see them now because too many are too thick to learn or change.
      My work measurements were all in metric except for some reason the wheelbase on the bigger trucks was listed in inches.

      • A Canadian told me that Canada and the US had some sort of agreement to switch to metric at the same time–but we didn’t.

        My son uses mostly metric when he talks about things that need such measurements. In college, all the physics courses I took used metric; this is why I think the US will eventually be mostly metric but probably will always have cross-over like the UK and Canada do.

  3. The System International is easy, it makes sense, and is a base ten system. Americans are both lazy and a little stupid when it comes to change.

    It will take a while, but it will happen.

  4. There are no longer any Imperial units of measure. Both the former British Imperial units and American customary units are now defined as multiples/fractions of SI units.

    1 foot is defined as 0.3048 metres
    1 lb is defined as 0.453 592 37 kilograms

    Derived units follow a similar pattern. Everything ends up back at the metric system.

    There is no point in arguing about the multiplier or divisor, it is just a factor. But a factor of 1 makes for an easier life.

Comments are closed.