A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers

Re:A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers by ghaff on Saturday August 10, 2019 @06:44AM (#20661314)

That's fair enough. Whatever the advantages of Imperial in some narrow contexts, I'm not sure very many would argue for them absent legacy.

On the other hand, it's pretty much an academic debate because a switch isn't happening for mainstream use. The desire and political will just aren't there. The little push that once existed is essentially gone whatever some tech types might want.

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Re:A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers by rocqua on Saturday August 10, 2019 @06:55AM (#20661351)

I like arguing for arcane standards, and there are aspects of the imperial system I like.

Specifically, I tend to advocate for a base 12 system based arround the inch. Base 12 because the very structured multiplication table, which also makes for easy dividing. The inch because I find my lengtg estimation accuracy to be better captured by inches.

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Re:A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers by Moru on Saturday August 10, 2019 @07:06AM (#20661394)

Your length estimation accuracy is dependent on what you used more.

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Re:A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers by rocqua on Saturday August 10, 2019 @07:09AM (#20661409)

I have never used inches outside screen diagonals. Yet I still feel inches better match my accuracy. My actual accuracy in inches is horrible though, because I never get into contact with them.

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Re:A mathematician's way of converting miles to kilometers by ghaff on Saturday August 10, 2019 @07:07AM (#20661401)

I assume that 12 inches to a foot is the reason that, at least when I was growing up, we were taught multiplication tables up to 12x12 rather than 10x10.

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