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Marcus,
Your average builder would definitely not want to
move decimal points around - too much risk in putting the point in the wrong
place, especially when he's in a hurry which he is 99% of the time.
There's nothing bizarre about standardization. If
you have many measurements on a plan and they are all different sizes, eg small
items such as a post or large items such as a room, then it makes sense to have
the same pattern of measurements on your plan so there's no confusion
or misunderstandings.
It's understood all dimensions are in mm and the
reason my block size did not end in 000 is because it was converted from an
old plan that used perches. Now don't ask me if an Imperial perch is different
from a US perch - I assume an American Bald Eagle required more space to park
than a Kookaburra, but I know who had the last laugh.
Millimeters should ALWAYS be used as a standard, no
matter what the item is.
Regards
Mike
Perth, Australia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 5:46
AM
Subject: [USMA:24346] Re: Millimetres,
centimetres, and decimetres
On Fri, 3 Jan 2003 08:21:55
Mike Joy
wrote:
>Marcus,
>
>What you say is technically correct, but
my point is that it is MUCH easier to work with one unit than a mixture of
units.
>
No doubt about it, Mike, I've never disputed that. My
point though was that it really is irrelevant to a metric user if he
encounters a mixture of prefixed units. He can navigate through these
with ease and comfort no matter how "messy" this mixture may
be.
>Moving decimal points around may be easier than messing about
with FFUs but it's even easier not to have to move decimal points. Which is
easier:- 12mm + 123mm+ 1234mm or 12mm + 12.3cm + 1.234m?
>
Sure, but,
again, to a metric user the latter would pose no challenge whatsoever.
I, personally, do that most of the time. When I see mixed units like the
above I, without even thinking, already position each and every one of them in
the proper fashion for calculation. Example:
12
123
1234
-----
1369 being the end result. No fuss
no mess, not even decimal points to worry about!!!
>No building
plans here show cm units - only mm. Even large distances. My house is shown on
a block size as 20 117 x 40 230.
>
He, he... No offense, but I
find the above somewhat... bizarre and completely unnecessary. Our
drawings in Brazil would simply show:
20,117 m x 40,23 m (the zero doesn't
even show!) Since the values are over a meter it makes no sense to us to use
huge numbers, like in mm in this case. Again, we require no
standardization to single prefixed units necessarily to undertake our daily
tasks!!!
;-)
Regards,
Marcus
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