> Not to mention that the math is not always easier. 12, the number of > inches in a foot, is evenly divided by 2, 3, 4, and 6; while 10 only > has 2 and 5. 36, the number of inches in a yard, is evenly divided by > 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 18; but 100, the number of centimeters in a > meter is only divided by 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50.
I realize that 10 fingers and 10 toes goes back to the beginning of creation, but when it comes to measuring things you have to give some credit to the Summerians and Babylonians and their sexagesimal (base 60) system on which practically every system of measurement other than the relatively recent and mathematically contrived metric system is based. There are 60s, multiples of 60s, and factors of 60s everywhere: 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, about 30 days in a month, 12 months in a year, 360 degrees in a circle, 60 minutes in a degree, 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 6000 feet in a nautical mile, 12 pennies in a shilling, etc. A lot of this stuff is 4000 years old. A system of thinking doesn't last that long without some inherent merit. Tens are nice because we've all been taught a number system based on 10. But there's something beautiful about numbers with so many natural divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all evenly divide 60). It seems almost "handed down by God" as opposed to the 10-based metric system which has the feeling of "invented by humans". This "inventedness" of the metric system is what makes it seem unnatural to me. OTOH I have to admire these simple equalities: One milliliter of water weighs one gram and occupies one square centimeter. I don't think about converting between systems as much as using the appropriate system for the context. For example, when I'm flying my airplane I measure distance in nautical miles and speed in nautical miles per hour (knots). It's awkward to translate to statute miles and MPH, but that's not the reason I don't do it. The reason I don't convert is that it's not necessary (unless I'm trying to tell a passenger how fast we're going, in which case I read the MPH scale on the airspeed indicator). In the airplane I measure outside air temperature in Celsius but cylinder head temperature in Fahrenheit. When I put up a 40M dipole, I measure its length in feet. No big deal. "Meters" describes wavelength and "feet" describes wire length. While the two are related they're for all practical purposes measurements of two different things, at least the way I look at it. 40M is the setting on the band switch on my radio. 66 feet is the approximate length of my antenna. I don't see the conflict. I don't see the necessity of adopting one world standard of measurement any more than I see the necessity of adopting Esperanto as the Global Language. One chooses one's measuring system by context, just as one chooses the language in which to speak by the context of the conversation. Craig NZ0R K1 #1966 K2 #4941 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
