In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phil Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >John Chambers wrote: >>Phil Taylor writes: >>| John Chambers wrote: >>| >An interesting example: Sears is still one of the biggest seller of >>| >tools in the US, and they still sells tools labelled "Standard" and >>| >"Metric". You folks in the rest of the world may find yourself >>| >bewildered by this, but yes, they actually get away with it. >>| >>| Well, they can't exactly call the system of measurement based on the >>| inch, pound and gallon "Imperial" can they? Or maybe they can... >> >>Well, they could, and you do still see this in the US. But "English" >>is the more common term used by people who understand that such >>measures are no longer the standard anywhere. > >Not even in England - well you can still buy milk and beer in pints, >and the road signs are still in miles, but I think those are the only >exceptions. Kids are only taught S.I. units in school now. When I >was in primary school there were zillions of obscure units of >measurement to be remembered - 22 yards = 1 chain, 10 chains = 1 furlong >and 5 feet = 1 rod, pole or perch. I never figured out what rods/poles >/perches were used to measure, but I still remember what they are. >It was pre-decimal currency too, so 12 pence to the shilling and >20 shillings to the pound. 1/3 of a pound was 6/8d (no, it's not >a fraction, it's an exact number of pennies). Now it's an irrational >number.
No, it's one third, 1/3, which is a "rational" number, being a ratio. Irrational numbers are those which can't be written as an exact ratio. > At least by the time you got taught about base systems you'd >already been doing mental arithmetic in multiple bases for years, so >it was no big deal. I wonder if that makes me better at hex arithmetic >than my kids are? And we were also taught decimetres, dekametres, hectametres, centigrams, decigrams etc etc alongside centimetres. Bernard Hill Braeburn Software Author of Music Publisher system Music Software written by musicians for musicians http://www.braeburn.co.uk Selkirk, Scotland To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
