All Hail the Metric system !
- Thread starter cascaderailroad
- Start date
The metric system sucks. It's difficult to use. Too many decimals and and numbers. Imperial is so much easier. Of course I live in the USA so that probably has something to do with it. And in our schools we have to teach both because they've been talking about converting to metric but are hesitant to do so. So until they make a commitment, this is what we have to deal with. But that's just my 2 cents.
amigacooke
Well-known member
I bet the screws on that plaque are metric sizes 
Now that's what you call a gas guzzler!!
Here's why: 1 rod= 5.5 yards = 16.5ft : 40x16.5 = 660ft = 0.125 miles .
1 hogshead = 56 Imperial Gallons. Its a size of barrel used for beer. ale or wine.
So Grandpa's car gets 0.125/56 = 0.0022321 mpg ! or 448 gallons per mile !!
Pete
It's all about what we're used to. The metric system is easy if you think about it. It's all decimal numbers which are easy to do math with. If you think about it, you have to convert inches and fractions to decimal to do the math, rounding and factoring, along with everything else to get the math right. With the metric system, this is already in place.
John
ray_whiley
Active member
Chris, that certainly sounds likely as most of the old measurements were based on practical things - I hadn't come across that suggestion before.
Re my earlier reference to a rood - I have looked it up and it is/was a quarter of an acre - which in turn was a furlong by a chain ie. 220 x 22 = 4840 square yards. So again an area which was based on practicalities - I believe an acre was the area a ploughman could be expected to plough in a day's work, and a furlong was the length of the furrow he ploughed.
Going back, all so-called 'imperial' measurements seem to be based on what ordinary people could be expected to know in the days before universal education in Britain - whereas the metre was I believe based on a certain fraction of the earth's circumference.
Guineas (a pound sterling plus a shilling) are I understand still used by auctioneers, the extra shilling being their fee or commission. And just imagine renaming those two famous flat races as the 1168.5 and 2337 Euros (or whatever the exchange rate is on the day of the race)!
Ray
Of course, under Imperial Measurement, you also get variations between nations - I guess the Boston Tea Party started it! A US Gallon is, therefore, smaller than a British Imperial Gallon. Selling petrol in litres is a licence to print money as Britain now has, arguably, the highest priced fuel in the developed world!
A Statute Mile, being 1760 yards decreed by Queen Elizabeth I in England, and was considered 1000 paces of the average man's gait. However, the Scottish mile is 1916 yards, and the Irish mile is 2240 yards!
The Nautical Mile is 6080 feet as that equates to approximately one minute of arc along the earth's meridian. That made it relatively easy for a ship's Navigator to calculate distance on a chart by "walking" a pair of dividers across the intended course.
A Statute Mile, being 1760 yards decreed by Queen Elizabeth I in England, and was considered 1000 paces of the average man's gait. However, the Scottish mile is 1916 yards, and the Irish mile is 2240 yards!
The Nautical Mile is 6080 feet as that equates to approximately one minute of arc along the earth's meridian. That made it relatively easy for a ship's Navigator to calculate distance on a chart by "walking" a pair of dividers across the intended course.
stationmistress
By comparison JAFA
@ray_whiley
I happen to have a Royal Air Force pocket book from 1937. It has 5 sides on weights, temperatures and measurements with conversion tables for everything including 'foreign' types including the U.S. Interestingly, the comment made here is Weight, length and surface measurements as in England; the metric system is also permitted.
I happen to have a Royal Air Force pocket book from 1937. It has 5 sides on weights, temperatures and measurements with conversion tables for everything including 'foreign' types including the U.S. Interestingly, the comment made here is Weight, length and surface measurements as in England; the metric system is also permitted.
2 cents? Thats 0.02 dollars isn't it? Surely thats a metric system?
Of course it isn't, it's 2/5 of a nickel.
There are five nickels to a quarter and four quarters to a dollar. This is a lot easier to understand than metric currency
cascaderailroad
New member
I always liked the "Pieces of Eight" ... where you bit off a chunk of a coin, to make change. Hence: "shave & a harcut ... two bits" (a bit is 12 1/2 cents).
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Typical ignorance from those who've never used it.
NSWGR_46Class
Just call my Captain Rude
A metric systems works on base of 100 or units of 10 - so in theory even through your using a .25 and .05 unit coin it still is a metric currency - we us almost the same system in Australia but our coins start off at .05 .10 .20 .50 then 1.00 2.00.
What you call the coin does not matter its the unit value that is inportant.
do you still have a dime coin 0.01
What you call the coin does not matter its the unit value that is inportant.
do you still have a dime coin 0.01
Of course it isn't, it's 2/5 of a nickel.
There are five nickels to a quarter and four quarters to a dollar. This is a lot easier to understand than metric currency
Red_Rattler
Since 09 May 2003
Before I start, an American rail magazine, that for 99% of measurements, uses metric??
Let's put this way, which sounds better for most track gauges? 4ft 8½in (4' 8½") or 1.4351m/1,435.1 mm (millimetres) &
2' 6" or 76.2cm (centimetres).
But for model scale, such as say HO or OO, which is better & easier?: HO = 3.5mm to the foot, OO = 4mm to the foot, or HO/OO (3½ / 4 mm = 0.1574803 / 0.1377952 inches to the foot (to seven decimal places)
PS: Not really important, but 1 mile = 5,280 not 5,278 feet.
You left off one 4, the exact measurement for 1 mile is 1,609344 metres (m) (- sorry meters for the Yanks!), 1.609344 km
You will most likely find that people use a mix of both, especially track gauge, and model scale
Let's put this way, which sounds better for most track gauges? 4ft 8½in (4' 8½") or 1.4351m/1,435.1 mm (millimetres) &
2' 6" or 76.2cm (centimetres).
But for model scale, such as say HO or OO, which is better & easier?: HO = 3.5mm to the foot, OO = 4mm to the foot, or HO/OO (3½ / 4 mm = 0.1574803 / 0.1377952 inches to the foot (to seven decimal places)
I'm not going to look through all these pages if it's already been mentioned, but 1 Mile = 80 Chains, 1 Chain = 20.1168 metres.
PS: Not really important, but 1 mile = 5,280 not 5,278 feet.
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Well I think (and I'm British) that I will stick with Imperial. The EEC minded I blame. :} I find it an awful lot easier re train speeds and measuring out things on my present build is fine. Recognising mph since a child, it is a natural for me. Considering that I was brought up on Imperial (and good luck to those who equally find metric easy) it doesn't make you a fuddy-duddy! One terrible admission to make though and that is even so long after proper money went decimal all those years ago, I still occasionally fumble with coins.