I was browsing in the auto shop while my car was being serviced the
other day and came across something I always "knew" in the abstract
but, about which, I did not know the specific details. Maybe you all
knew this (or similar examples) but here it is in case you didn't.
They were selling two almost identical sets of socket wrenches, one in
Ye Olde English units, the other in metric:
The sizes of the sockets in the Y.O.E. set were:
5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8 and 3/4 inches.
The sizes of the metric sockets were:
9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 17 millimetres.
The Olde English units were marked on the sockets with quotation marks
to indicate inches (e.g. 5/16" for five-sixteenths of an inch) while
the metric units were indicated by "MM" for millimetres (e.g. 9 MM for
nine millimetres). The examples show so well how metric is simpler to
understand and easier to use, that one can almost excuse the use of
the wrong symbol for millimetres.
Bill Hooper
72 kg body mass
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
