Imperial distance measurements are quite handy. They’re in base 12, so they can be divided by 2,3,4, and 6. It makes for easy math. Metric systems in base 10 are only divisible by 2 and 5.
@@abebuckingham8198 neither the metric system or the imperial system is used exclusively by scientists. In fact, most uses of these systems are not by scientists. A foot is easier to use than a meter in everyday life because it can be broken down into sixths, quarters, thirds, and halves and still be whole numbers.
@@ObscureGarudaThe Imperial Chain is 22 yards. The Pole (sometimes called the Perch, Rod or Lug) is generally 16½ feet (the US redefined it in 1959, but some States still use both for different purposes). Neither are particularly base 12, are they? Imperial and US Customary units are different, sometimes by a lot (eg the pint), sometimes by very little, and sometimes there is international agreement on a single size (eg the yard). *_All_* Imperial and US Customary units are _defined_ in metric units.
Good thing the metric year and hours never caught on, as good as base 10 is base 12 just works better for divisibility and ease of breaking up smaller measures by fractional increments
There's the contrarian view that says that the world can be divided into 2 groups: Folks that use SI (aka metric system), and Folks who have visited the moon. And remind your guest of how much money Titanic would have made if they'd gotten the sky right
We, USA, do use the metric system. I was an artillery fire direction officer in Vietnam. Artillery uses the metric system. The maps we used in Nam were based on the maps created by the French and they were outstanding. In college I studied chemistry and physics. Both used the metric system because it is the universal measuring system of scientists. I miss the metric system.
Aah, sort of. We do ranges in meters, but angles in 6400 "mils." [That's for redlegs; groundpounders still use 360 degrees, while serious SI types use radians, 2 pi of them.]
Yet the US tend to forget about this. We fought with the US and made at least two decisive battles and especially the naval one that ended all of it. Without France, the US would have been just a big colony with probably the same importance as Australia nowadays. The UK would have tighten your ressources like never, and better than they did with other colonies.
in fact, a dozend (12) came from the amount of bones of the fingers (not thumb) of 1 hand, and not from the amount of fingers or toes. Ancient people used those bones to count with their thumb of the same hand while counting on the other hand for each 12 as a multiplier. (12 finger bones on one hand x 5 fingers on the other hand = 60).
They attempted to, but the ship carrying the kilogram weight from France that would have been used as the basis for the system was captured by British sponsored pirates. Rather than wait for a replacement, the US standardized the existing system as a kind of bandaid as a temporary fix, since the new government needed consistency (prior to this, a pound could vary wildly depending on what part of the country you were in).
The Imperial system is based on oats, and is far more practical. One cup of oats will fill a man's belly. Two cups, which is a pint, will feed him for a day. One pint of liquid equals 16 fluid ounces = one pound. (1 cup of oats weights 1/5lb) With this system, you can easily figure out how much oats, and how much water, a company of 100 soldiers needs for a 3-day march, and how much this is likely to weigh. Maths is a language with which we try to map the world around us. While the metric system is completely arbitrary, Imperial measurements map onto what they were designed to measure. It is also important to remember that for much of human history, not getting ripped off by shopkeepers was a major concern. When you buy a by the pint or pound, you know exactly what you are getting for what price. Unlike today where you get ripped off because you bought 285ml last week, and the next week pay the same amount for 260ml in what appears to be the same size bottle.
US is one of the only 3 countries in the whole world that doesn't use the metric system. When I told that to a customer, he said "sorry, we are stuborn"
But we actually do use it for just about everything except mileage, speed, and cooking. It is mixed everywhere else, when I was fixing cars and selling tires metric was 99% of the measurements. Car speedometers(analog) are laid out metrically, I know most are digital now. It will still continue to slowly filter in until it is fully integrated. It is easier to use.
@@SevCaswell Want to know why? I was in school back when the Carter administration tried to force it down American's throats with no warning, no prep, just the message of we know better how to run your life better than you do attitude which will put anyone's attitude against what they were pushing. There is a reason why Carter is considered to be one of the worst Presidents we have had. But the metric system is in Wide use and adaption in America right now. Has been slowly being adopted and will probably be 100% adopted with in 20 more years without gov't action. But we are not the only ones with a hybrid system. Canada, Great Britain, and Australia using hybrid systems, so I do not know why America is singled out.
During Thomas Jefferson's administration, the French sent an emissary to America with metric standards as a gift, but the ship was attacked by pirates and he never made it here.
If it wasn't for the French, we (US) wouldn't be here. Thank you French. Also the Statue of Liberty was a Celibration of the freed Slaves. Thank you France again.
M E - if it wasn't for our forefathers revolting against King George, the king of England (at that time) the usA would never have been founded, so you need to get your facts straight.
I love videos with Neil in them. He always laugh so hard at the simplest jokes. I wonder if his brain simply doesn’t even attempt to make random humor or he’s just that smart he doesn’t get it at first
Absolutely correct sarcasm. France made "system international" which unified everything to metric. Funnily enough, the meter length seems to have been a measure used from prehistory
@@jimleane7578 the metre is based on a seconds pendulum. If one does the research one finds everyone and thier dog, including Jefferson and Franklin, experimenting in the late 1700s. One cannot rule out masonic involvement in the creation of the metre considering Napoleon was in Egypt 1798-99 measuring the great pyramid.
We don't use it in civilian life much because they tried to make us learn conversions instead of just "this is a meter" and "this is a gram". (We screw up teaching languages that way, too.)
@@heatherfulmore3412 worst way to do it. Just use it. Convert results if you need yo for someone else. They tried to teach "convert to metric" as step one.
The metric system was instaured in order to unify the "provinces" in France, because each one used to adopt a different way on measuring the scales and weights. There were for exemple , for the lenght "a point, a line, a thumb, a king's feet..." and those were often not similar in the entire kingdom
I know it's a joke, but this is coming from the same country that came up with freedom fries so they wouldn't have to call them French fries. I can well believe that as being one of the reasons.
“We don’t use it” I worked in a U.S. steel stamping plant that measured blanks in cm & mm. Industry standard. Every electronic component uses metric. Electricity is measured in kilowatt hours. We run 5 and 10K races. Medicines are doses in milligrams. Beverages are bottled in liters.
The original Roman mile was 1000 paces (milia passuum), or 5000 feet. The modern mile was defined as 5280 feet under Queen Elizabeth at the end of the 16th century in order to reconcile multiple discordant measurement systems already in wide use.
The French also laid the groundwork for the American Constitution and the framework for the US system of government - oh and also made the Statue of Liberty... Among other things... just thought I'd put that out there. Why the Americans hung on to the 'Imperial' units of measurement after they fought off their imperial masters and didn't adopt the superior French system is a mystery to me - Even the Brits now use the metic system for most things (except for beer, clothes and distance travelled by road).
"No wonder we dont use it", you still have HOA, a failed housing system still in place which was also invented by the French. Muricans still use imperial measurements invented by the British. They used a british king's foot as a measuring tool. With so many failures no wonder why the British said that those who live on those lands are not equal to us
It’s so stupid that we use a system based on the size of the king’s foot-considering the fact that we kicked out the king. It seems like we should have embraced the idea of a new measurement system.
I'm going to tell you why I love this guy. He's relatively smart as we all are Him more so He's very positive, informative, but most of all he has a wonderful sense of humor. It doesn't have to be some super complex joke for him to get it!
Thanks a lot for your comment. You are perfectly right and there are efforts going on in the world to make the few countries left using imperial system to switch to metric.
Watch his podcast about the metric system. We actually do use it. There are 5 (6?) duplicates of the official metric weight (located in France) spread around the world. One is in the United States and all of our weights are based on it
My opinion on the debate is that it's an easy way for people to score victory points by making fun of the U.S. Obviously, the metric system is easier to use, but if you live in the U.S, you'll find that the Imperial System isn't that hard to adapt to and is pretty good for a lot of practical uses. Most schools in the U.S. do actually teach the metric system in science classes, and it's used in a few other areas.
Heres a question for any of you who use the Imperial system: how the hell do you actually make sense of it all? 10mm is 1cm, 10cm is 1dm and 10dm is 1m..etc etc.. there is nothing easier than that? Milli, centi , hecto and kilo was already well known latin BEFORE 1789 amongst the lettered.. But the imperial systeem seems to make things as difficult as possible.. somebody explain why the US was so.. cocky??
I'm gonna ask imperial vouchers one question do you measure numbers as 0.1(1/10), 0.01(1/100), 0,2(1/5) or do you measure it with you 12-2-3-4-6 system?
You know just before that the French crossed the ocean to come free you from your English oppressor? In particular their navy at Chesapeake and their artillery train at Yorktown?
The Metric system IS the official system of measurement of the USA. Look it up. An inch is officially defined as 2.54 Centimeters. Look up the The Metric Conversion Act of 1975.
1,10,100,1000.....1 centimetre, 10 centimetres, 10 times 10 centimetres, a metre. And the same with grams and kilos ... But keep counting in 8's.... 10 it's perfect, but eight it's stupid.... So, stop laughing about the French, 888888888....🤣
The metric (Kg/cm2) brought in, later, "SI" (N/m2) system, it's inter-related, but totally different from English/US customary (Lbf/inch2 or Feet-length). Another is 400 gradient (not popular) to replace 360 degree. ..SI is good, but not the Gradient-angle system.!!
Actually, Thomas Jefferson came up with the Metric System, or at least the idea of all measures answering to Base Ten, but it didn't take hold in the new country, partly due to opposition from John Adams, who wanted it to be in Base Twelve* so while we dithered, the French Revolution came along and they got the credit. (To be fair, they added some tweaks, such as making a "meter" supposedly one ten-millionth the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, so no one nation would use "their" national mile. There were over one hundred different ones in use.) * Base Twelve is not really a wacky idea. There's nothing particularly compelling about Base Ten except that most of us have ten fingers. Twelve is actually pretty handy, as it's "abundant," meaning it has lots of whole number divisors: 2,3,4, and 6, whereas ten has only 2 and 5. Incidentally, 60 is super abundant (2,3,4,5,6,10,12,15, 20 and 30), which is why we have 60-minute hours.
Sorry, Neil but you are WRONG. The Metric system was invented by ENGLISHMAN John Wilkins back on Monday, April 13, 1668. The French however started using it first but they did not invent it.
Explain to me how feet and inches are not more confusing than meters and centimeters. 180,000 cm = 1800 meters = 1.8 kilometers. 180,000 in = 15,000 ft = 2.84090909 miles 1 mile = 1,760 yards. US just likes to make things overly complicated.
I think you'll find this "1789" is not strictly true. According to other sources, the metric system was proposed in 1788 and became a qualified standard in 1850. "No wonder we don't use it" is somewhat contradictory, seeing France helped America fight the British and the US drives on the left because France drives on the left. This is a direct snub to the UK. ALL the important scientific development in the US is developed using the metric system. Despite the metric system being a much superior and logical system, the US has not changed to metric due to the time and high cost of changing and the unwillingness of the population. The ease of use and the correlation of the metric system is brilliant. 1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram, so we instantly know a 20 liter container of water weighs 20kg. How heavy is a five gallon container of water. I was born and educated in the UK, so I'm very familiar with the imperial system, but there's no way I'd work with 1/16th's, 1/32nd's etc. The only imperial thing that has stuck with me for all these years, I recognise "1 thou" quicker than "0.025" mm, weird hey?
Editorial comment❤❤ I am a civil engineer used as a student in 80s books written in English system (foot, inches, miles, force in Kg etc) and took exams in metric system (meter, force in Newtons etc). So, I am equally good at using both units. However, I like English system as is more practical and intuitive.😊😊
hmmm.likely the pre-ANCIENT EGYPTIAN did (likely prior civilisation) Metric System exist everywhere! far far earlier that the French state became an entity
That's EXACTLY the reason why Britts and Americans don't want to use the metric system. Ignorance and prejudice are the hardest things in the world. But the French don't lack in prejudice and discrimination either.
I recently saw a video where some guys were measuring a granite block inside the Gizeh-Pyramid with laser equipment, and guess what, it was EXACTLY 1 meter wide, down to three digits! But wait… when were the pyramids built and why were the egyptians familiar with the meter already then? Why doesn’t anyone mention this more often?
The french came up with the metric system? Weren't they just the first to implement it? Edit: John Wilkins from England invented it. (or reinvented it, since we are pretty certain those who built the pyramids used metric.) A frenchman, named Gabriel Mouton, then adopted it and started refining it. Around 100 years later the French implemented it.
I hate to see the imperialistic system still being used. Metric is based on the foundation of what we know, boiling water, 100C. Human body temperature is fluctuating around 37C. How does your Fahrenheit system work now when your entire base line is depending on how healthy a person is?
