Comments by "J Hutt" (@jhutt8002) on "Is The Metric System Actually Better?" video.

@walkuro7384 What do you mean by "nobody needing to convert teaspoons to fl. oz"? Isn't that pretty damn hard to do in your head? Whole idea of metric system is that you can easily move the decimal point to wherever it's practical. I definitely talk metres when measuring lenght of wall of my house, then go to shop and buy boards, that are described by millimetre. Then I count the lenght between frames in wall in centimetre to find placement of nails. I don't need to "convert" any of those. They're the same unit with different factor of 10 added.
84
@nealokelly Lenght of metre is irrelevant. The fact that it works in powers of 10 isn't. That WAS the whole point of the system; decimalization. Back in Napoleonic France when they we're creating SI they even tried to decimalize the clock and calendar. That just didn't catch on as well as metric system did.
5
@nealokelly Read about Napoleonic university, it's all there in history books. What you mean by "ergonomic"? A one metre measuring stick is perfect to carry around. If you go shorter, you need too many measurements for longer items, like for tree trunk or a house. Longer would be unwieldy.
2
@TheNewGreenIsBlue @TheNewGreenIsBlue I honestly don't understand this logic you apply to count imperial units: Divisions by quarter, 6,12,3 divisions, 9'er...what? I've seen it before and it's obvious, when people think in imperial units, they think them in VERY different way than people who use metric. I really didn't understand how you we're counting the table leg lenghts. Or what was the point there. In metric it's simple math: If I need 3 pieces of 74 cm legs. That's 3*74 = 222 cm or 2,22 m Or If I have 5,24 m long piece of wood, I can get 524/74 = 6 legs and have 6 cm piece left over. It's very easy to calculate in your head. With inches you always have to use decimals or fractions, but with metric you just move the decimal to keep it always in integers. We don't think centimetre, desimetre or kilometre as different units. It's just a factor used to shorten and ease the calculations.
2
@a basketboy And this seems to be about the same logic: The unit of lenght is metre. We don't think any of those hecto-, kilo-, centi-, deca-, deci- etc... as different units. It just means factor of 100, 1000, 1/100, 10 and 1/10. You don't need to convert them. You know instinctively how many centilitre you have in litre. (If this wasn't obvious) And converting lenght to area is just math. Which is easier to calculate in powers of 10.
2
@MrKotBonifacy May be. I just recalled documentary about university of France (founded by Napoleon) where they talked about it as well.
1
@TheNewGreenIsBlue If you've grown to think that way, yes I guess. I can't think in fractions, because that's not how we are taught. It's very rare to use fractions anywhere, and then it's much easier to think in percentage, or decimal (which is basically same the thing). I instantly can visualize how much is 60 % or 42 %. And that is exactly same as 0,6 or 0,42 from 1. But I have no idea how much is 4/7 or 2/8. I have to calculate the division to get it in decimal.
1
BTW. I'm finnish. Our school system has some merit ;)
1
@TheNewGreenIsBlue Well, composers and musicians do use base seven fractions. But that's beside the point. It was simply example how much simpler it is to use decimal instead of fractions. You can't say right away which is bigger: 2/6 or 3/8. But in decimals it's obvious: 0,33... vs 0,375 You're just making really complicated issue out of a simple math. And pointlessly. If you like to use fractions, that's fine. Most people just find base 10 numbers easier, which is the basis on which our mathematical system has worked on all of scientific history. Babylonians used base 12 system, which is why we measure time that way. It works, but I'd say it would be easier if we didn't have to translate that to base 10 all the time.
1
@TheNewGreenIsBlue BTW: To get back on the track, what does all this have to do with imperial system? I mean, imperial units do not have any base number to my knowledge. There's no connection between different distance units for instance, so you have to memorize how long each of them is compared to each other. So, you're logic to me still would say metric is better, since it's all based on a single base number?
1
@TheNewGreenIsBlue Music is based on fractions that use different base numbers. 1/2 is octave, 3/4 major third, 4/7 harmonic seventh etc... But those are not usually needed, since base 12 tet fixes them in to a scale. Which btw. Is chosen because it can represent most important notes the best with low amount of extra notes. Base 19 would actually be much better, but practically difficult because of too many notes. But more so, rhythm is in fractions. That's where I mostly need to use them. Anyway I don't know why you insist on dividing things. This is why I think you think and understand things very differently than I do because of fractions. I don't divide my day. I wake up at 6, start car at 7 commute 40 min. Work for 8,5 hours, pick groceries, that takes 30 min. Drive home 40 min. I'm there at 17:20 (If I calculated right). Put meat in oven, which takes 1,5 hours to cook. Put washing machine on that takes 2 h 25 min. Sit to watch 30 min. episode of something.. See that's a jumbled mess of decimals, hours and minutes. It took me quite a while to calculate in my head when I'm home and didn't even bother with evening because I think the point comes across. If our math was just based on 12. Yes I fully agree it would be much easier.
1
BTW, I don't remember being thaught fractions, nor, if it was before decimals. I really don't remember much of elementary school at all to be honest. It was easy for me and I was always good at math. What I do remember, is that I quickly learned to translate fractions into percentage, which made everything much easier to calculate.
1