Inches, feet, and yards and miles aren't really inconsistent, becuase they are all related by somewhat reasonsable integer ratios. In this computer age, there isn't even much advantage in replacing all those ratios with powers of ten.
It's when people inflict mixtures of BTUs with h or Joules with eV on us that I get aggravated. Each of those units has its place, but only in particular domains. Worse, the people most likely to use domain-specific units, are the ones most likely to not name the unit they are using.
Engineers are such people.
The SI system helps reduce the risks a little. But only a little, I have seen German engineers measure velocity in degrees.
Re:The 39th Root of 92
by exDM69 on Monday August 08, 2016 @07:11AM
(#12246797)
If you're working with floating point in meters, all it takes is a look at the exponent (e.g. 1.75923e-5) to figure out whether it's micrometers, centimeter or kilometers. Not as practical with a non base-10 unit system.
It's when people inflict mixtures of BTUs with h or Joules with eV on us that I get aggravated. Each of those units has its place, but only in particular domains. Worse, the people most likely to use domain-specific units, are the ones most likely to not name the unit they are using.
Engineers are such people.
The SI system helps reduce the risks a little. But only a little, I have seen German engineers measure velocity in degrees.