Metric conversion in the machine shop has been easy. A lathe includes a pair of drive gears in a 100/127 ratio. John Ferrell 6241 Phillippi Rd Julian NC 27283 Phone: (336)685-9606 johnferrell@earthlink.net Dixie Competition Products NSRCA 479 AMA 4190 W8CCW "My Competition is Not My Enemy" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hulatt, Jon" To: Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 3:47 AM Subject: Re: [OT]: "standard" measurements, etc (was Re: What does "dd" st and for in "Vdd" ?) > >> > >> Yes. But inches also have a change in scaling constant when you change > >> to feet, and another when you change to yards. (Arguably degrees have > >> too when you change to minutes and seconds but in practice fractional > >> degrees are used as an essential part of using them in calculations). > > >But there's no need to change to feet or yards - I can say that a thing is > two yards, six feet, or 72 inches long, without losing precision, in the > same way as I can say >that something is two metres or 2000mm - it's just > that the Imperial measures aren't related by powers of ten. I don't see > that it makes them different! > > > Someone earlier mentioned mathematicans being "lazy" for not wanted to > factor their angles to degrees- an entirely arbitrary unit that isn't even > correct (the 360 days/ 360 degrees in a year thing). 2pi is much neater and > more appropriate for maths. > > But it's this same laziness, IMHO, that makes the majority of people assume > base 10 is always best, hence metric. We're drilled into working mentally in > base 10, but other bases are often "better" - base 2 and base 16 being > obvious examples for this community. > > But the imperial system has one great advantage over metric- more factors. > 12 has the factors 1,2,3,4,6 ; wheras 10 has 1,2,5. These factors are often > handy when working with high precision. > > And frankly, I find it annoying that all my components and libraries stock > parts with a 2.54mm pitch. Why not quote .1" ? It's more accurate, cos > that's what they actually are. > > On a separate note, I rather like the imperial system: it requires more > intelligence to use, and I'm an intellectual snob. Also, I think a pint is a > far better measure than it's closest metric equivalent (because it's bigger- > more beer). And yes, I'm talking imperial, not american, where a pint is > 20oz ("a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter"). I was most > dissapointed the first time I went to america to discover how small their > pints of beer were. > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics > (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics