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1. PostOn+eV1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 03:03:41
>>surpri+(OP)
There is a counterproductive obsession with powers of 10.

Sometimes, other systems just make more sense.

For example, for time, or angles, or bytes. There are properties of certain numbers (or bases) that make everything descending from them easier to deal with.

for angles and time (and feet): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_highly_composite_numb...

For other problems we use base 2, 3, 8, 16, or 10.

Must we treat metric as a hammer, and every possible problem as a nail?

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2. its_ma+Na2[view] [source] 2026-02-04 05:40:17
>>PostOn+eV1
Agreed. Metric is stupid.

The ancient Sumerians used multiples of 60, as we continue to do for time and angles (which are related) today. It makes perfect sense. 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which makes it easy to use in calculations. Even the metric people are not so crazy as to propose replacing these with powers of 10.

Same with pounds, for example. A pound is 16 ounces, which can be divided 4 times without involving any fractions. Try that with metric.

Then there's temperature. Fahrenheit just works more naturally over the human-scale temperature range without involving fractions. Celsius kind of sucks by comparison.

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3. bonsai+vj2[view] [source] 2026-02-04 06:59:30
>>its_ma+Na2
> A pound is 16 ounces, which can be divided 4 times without involving any fractions. Try that with metric.

1000 g, 500 g, 250 g, 125 g

I also don't understand the fear around fractions - we deal with halves, quarters and fifths all the time in the natural world.

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4. its_ma+hl2[view] [source] 2026-02-04 07:18:51
>>bonsai+vj2
> I also don't understand the fear around fractions - we deal with halves, quarters and fifths all the time in the natural world.

Yes, and a certain fast food company found that their 1/3 lb burgers weren't selling well, because their idiot customers can't maff too good and thought 1/4 was bigger than 1/3.

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