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CanticleFlugelhorn on scored.co
26 days ago1 point(+0/-0/+1Score on mirror)
Imperial is good for measuring the personal, and things that pertain to the person, because its measurements are based on the person. It is also good for quick, imprecise measurements that can be judged by eye.
Metric is good for the impersonal, and things that do not pertain to the person, because it is not based on anything pertaining to the person. It is an entirely arbitrary measurement. So arbitrary that it has been redefined while still staying the same. It is good for precision where precision matters due to a base ten system being easier to do math with. Being base ten is the only reason it is better for this, but it is a very good reason. If everyone had originally agreed that a meter was actually twice as long, or was 1/600th of a border verst, we would be having this same conversation.
How long is a foot? About the length of an adult male foot. I can work with that.
How long is an inch? The first section of the index finger. Okay.
How long is a meter? 'Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second, where the second is defined by a hyperfine transition frequency of caesium. The metre was originally defined in 1791 by the French National Assembly as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a great circle through Paris, setting 10000 km as that quarter of the Earth's polar circumference.' ....But why, though? I can work with meters because I am used to them, but again, the only reason metric works is because of base ten. The actual length itself is irrelevant to its usefulness.
Metric is good for the impersonal, and things that do not pertain to the person, because it is not based on anything pertaining to the person. It is an entirely arbitrary measurement. So arbitrary that it has been redefined while still staying the same. It is good for precision where precision matters due to a base ten system being easier to do math with. Being base ten is the only reason it is better for this, but it is a very good reason. If everyone had originally agreed that a meter was actually twice as long, or was 1/600th of a border verst, we would be having this same conversation.
How long is a foot? About the length of an adult male foot. I can work with that.
How long is an inch? The first section of the index finger. Okay.
How long is a meter? 'Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second, where the second is defined by a hyperfine transition frequency of caesium. The metre was originally defined in 1791 by the French National Assembly as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a great circle through Paris, setting 10000 km as that quarter of the Earth's polar circumference.' ....But why, though? I can work with meters because I am used to them, but again, the only reason metric works is because of base ten. The actual length itself is irrelevant to its usefulness.