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metric vs imperial
Replies
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
You know what's funny about this? Once upon a time, in a world long ago when the US was making noises back in the 70's that it was going to convert to the metric system, I remember doing some report in school where I was stood at a black board demonstrating this and I was adept at doing conversions in my head.
Not any more!2 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit I prefer....
Double the number, take off ten percent, add 32 as it seems easier to do mentally.
I'm a bit odd in that I think in Celsius in winter (as freezing point is important) but in Fahrenheit in Summer.
Being middle-aged and English I use a whole variety of imperial and metric measures:
Pints for beer, gallons for fuel(*), kilos for weight lifting, stones and pounds for body weight, miles for distance and mph for speed, millimetres for small measurements and inches for larger measurements, grams for cooking but ounces for the size of my steak.
We buy our fuel in litres but our car's odometer records miles so I mentally multiply litres by 0.22 to get gallons to work out my fuel consumption in mpg.1 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »-26C here = fricken freezing.
It's actually a balmy 7 here this morning (-14 C), which is a nice improvement after the past couple of days. Apparently it might get warm enough to snow this evening.
I don't like celsius because it makes sense to me that 100 is super hot and below 0 is very cold (and I know it's because I grew up with that), and that they are legitimate weather temperatures. (It's celsius on the stove that seems most wrong to me.)
If 32 is around 90 and 0 is 32 then there's too little in-between!
But yeah, I realize this is irrational prejudice based on what I'm used to. ;-)0 -
Sometimes I suspect we have an industrial conspiracy to keep the U.S. on the SAE system. Snap-On has an awesome tag line, "I get my nuts off with Snap-On Tools", but Americans have to own 2 separate sets of wrenches to get the nuts off our internationally source Chevrolets and Fords. I've got a dad-blamed Noahcic assembly of wrenches, sockets, and Torx tools 2 by 2.
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Just stopping in to say using the metric system is a whole lot easier. I like it a lot better. I wish the US would convert to all metric like we were warned about back in the 70s and 80s. Back then as a kid I was scared. Now I say bring it on LOL0
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Just stopping in to say using the metric system is a whole lot easier. I like it a lot better. I wish the US would convert to all metric like we were warned about back in the 70s and 80s. Back then as a kid I was scared. Now I say bring it on LOL
I still (inconsistently) like feet/inches and lbs for human measurements, just because they mean something to me without having to think about it, but I am glad we have grams on foods and think ounces are annoying (I was going to abbreviate but didn't want the Australians to think I was being hostile!). If I had 3.5 oz of potatoes, that wouldn't mean much to me, but 100 g I can visualize and understand (granted, because I've used a food scale and become used to it). More significantly, it is just a more sensible system (overall, despite my attachment to some aspects of imperial).
This discussion is making me think of Trollope's Pallisers series, because of the one character who is so into the importance of decimalizing the money.1 -
I agree anyone using an international site should use whatever system is most comfortable to them (except calories vs kilojoules, of course, haha). I have a goal of first being able to do conversions quickly in my head, but ultimately to not have to convert at all, and just directly visualize the real-world application of the measure. I don't need to convert to know 100 C is boiling and 0 C is freezing. 25 C is easy also as it's used as room temperature in testing all sorts of things in a lab and I can go directly to how it feels without translating. I'd like to have that multi-lingual ability in all systems of measurement and think it's worthwhile pursuing.3
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
Good God
It's easier and quicker to open the conversion app and punch in the numbers 
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I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
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Christine_72 wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
Good God It's easier and quicker to open the conversion app and punch in the numbers
Gawd bless the internet. I don't math at the best of times, certainly never if I have to remember something as complicated as that!1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
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Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.
True! Always forget about the poor Tasmanian's down there.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.
True! Always forget about the poor Tasmanian's down there.
I keep telling you that Australia should just give Tasmania to NZ. We would appreciate it.1 -
Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
This thread seems to be a perfect example of why understanding basic math should be encouraged. Learning conversions would be one way to do that.0 -
Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
So by that thinking feet which have 12 inches should also be subject to the same scorn. Or Fahrenheit because they insist on not having freezing as 0 and boiling as 100 which is much more sensible. Or perhaps fluid ounces, gallons for fuel, cups for solids. I could go on and on. I prefer metric but stones and pounds are no more illogical than my list.
And inflict? I'm sorry you're so sensitive to cultural differences that hangovers from the pre-metric past. And I say this as a metric person largely.7 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Just stopping in to say using the metric system is a whole lot easier. I like it a lot better. I wish the US would convert to all metric like we were warned about back in the 70s and 80s. Back then as a kid I was scared. Now I say bring it on LOL
I still (inconsistently) like feet/inches and lbs for human measurements, just because they mean something to me without having to think about it, but I am glad we have grams on foods and think ounces are annoying (I was going to abbreviate but didn't want the Australians to think I was being hostile!). If I had 3.5 oz of potatoes, that wouldn't mean much to me, but 100 g I can visualize and understand (granted, because I've used a food scale and become used to it). More significantly, it is just a more sensible system (overall, despite my attachment to some aspects of imperial).
This discussion is making me think of Trollope's Pallisers series, because of the one character who is so into the importance of decimalizing the money.
That's the thing for me. If somebody says they're 5'5" or 6'8", I can visualize how tall they are in my head. If they give their measurement in cm, my mind shows a blank space with "no image found" until I work the conversion. Kg isn't too bad because I just multiply it by two and add a bit to get me somewhere in the ballpark of their weight in pounds. I think stone/stones are a weird measurement, but I know a stone is 14 pounds so I can live with that easily enough.
For distances, I know what 5K and 10K are from doing runs and therefore know that a kilometer is equal to around 0.6 of a mile - so if you tell me something is 40 km down the road, it's pretty meaningless until I work the conversion and say to myself "ah, so about 24 miles".
I can estimate 4 ounces of meat pretty well, but 100g is going to require me to convert it into ounces to make a decent guesstimate. Milliliters? Nah, tell me how many fluid ounces are up in there because ml don't compute - it's not a measurement I really use even sometimes.
On the flip side, I can eyeball a bolt/nut on my dirt bike or UTV and make a pretty good estimate as to whether I'm going to need an 8mm, 10mm or 12mm socket/wrench. But if you ask me to move something 87mm to the right across my workbench, I'm going to be whipping my smartphone out and figuring out how far that is in inches.
I'm all over the place with this stuff.3 -
I'm all over the place with this stuff.
Same here.
Height & weight I think in Imperial. I know there are 2.2 KG in a pound and can do that in my head.
Temps I think in C around freezing and F above 10C/50F. But I can do the conversion from C to F in my head. Double it, less 10% plus 32.
Tried to use my Garmin watch for distance golfing and it gave me meters. Who would use meters in golf? Like using meters in football, not going to happen anywhere.
Have no idea on ounces but can guess grams pretty good with food. Tablespoons and cups make no sense to me.
Driving, I think in KM. Watching car shows I think in MPH. So top Gear always confused me.
But I still think in Imperial MPG when calculating fuel mileage. L/100km seems backwards to me, but I know 10 is decent and 20, not so good.
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VintageFeline wrote: »Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
So by that thinking feet which have 12 inches should also be subject to the same scorn. Or Fahrenheit because they insist on not having freezing as 0 and boiling as 100 which is much more sensible. Or perhaps fluid ounces, gallons for fuel, cups for solids. I could go on and on. I prefer metric but stones and pounds are no more illogical than my list.
And inflict? I'm sorry you're so sensitive to cultural differences that hangovers from the pre-metric past. And I say this as a metric person largely.
Seriously. What's the big deal about a stone being 14 pounds? And I'm from the US. It's no more than a foot being 12 inches or cup being 8 ounces or any other measurement equivalency we grow up knowing. It's just as random.
Saying it's inflicted? Dramatic much?3
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