And how would decimalisation of time works? 100 minutes per hour? Chris A ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Fletcher" To: Sent: Friday, 08 March, 2002 09:52 Subject: [OT]: US and Metric System: UK viewpoint Hello all, As one who started learning the Imperial system at school, then suffered three attempts at metrication (CGS, MKS, SI) I would like to add my comments. Metrication and decimalisation go hand-in-hand. Decimalisation is a VERY BAD THING! As a base for a numbering system, only odd numbers could be worse. It's a throwback to when we counted on fingers, and I stopped doing that before I started school. (OK, I still do it sometimes, but now it's in binary so I can count to 1023). The usefulness of a numbering system depends upon its factors. We had a wonderful currency system here in which 240 pennies made one pound. 240 has more factors than any smaller number, and we could divide our pound equally by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80 and 120. Now we have 100 pennies to the pound so we can divide it equally by 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 50. See the difference? The Imperial system was, as Sean said, based on human dimensions while the metric system was based on a MIScalculation of the earth's circumference. History aside, I think the main advantage of the Imperial system is that it teaches flexibility of the brain. Someone who has only learned the metric system can count in base 10. Someone who studies digital electronics can (I hope) also count in base 2 (binary), base 16 (hexadecimal) and maybe base 8 (octal). Someone who has learned the Imperial system can count in base 3 (yards and feet), base 6 (fathoms and feet), base 8 (gallons and pints), base 12 (pennies and shillings, feet and inches), base 14 (stones and pounds), base 16 (pounds and ounces) base 20 (pints and fluid ounces)... no wonder the people who only know the decimal system think Imperial is difficult; their brains weren't programmed for it at an early age. The decimal system is easy to use if you only have ten digits (0 to 9) but is very restrictive. Throw in another 6 (A to F or some new characters), learn to count in hex and the folly of the decimal system becomes apparent. I drive miles, drink pints, weigh stones and pounds. I weigh my mail in grams and measure my radio waves in metres. When it comes to measuring, say, a piece of metal I count myself lucky that I am equally familiar with decimal inch, fractional inch and millimetre measurements. My brain was programmed early enough for me to have learned flexibility. I thank the Imperial system for that. A circle is divided into 360 degrees. Anyone in favour of making that 100? John -- John Fletcher -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads