Re:The Argument of Twelves and the Metric System
by mkl on Sunday September 01, 2019 @05:41AM
(#20851376)
In base 12, 12^3 = 1000. Easy! Base 12 numbers and base 12 "metric" would be great, but unfortunately we will never have them.
Re:The Argument of Twelves and the Metric System
by Aardwolf on Sunday September 01, 2019 @05:58AM
(#20851427)
Those 8/10/22 ratios are still quite random, and I've never heard anyone use furlong or chain as units (at least in movies).
To be fair, I should have said 1760 yards, which is equally weird (its prime factorization is 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 5 * 11, especially the 11 in there is weird, plus the 5 in there makes it more lean towards base 10 than base 12)
TBF you're skipping intermediate units. After all 12^3 would be 1728 so non-decimal units quick get to weird ratios.
Of course you're also right that imperial and customary measurements use seemingly random ratios even within the same unit of measure: the mile is 5280 feet because a statute mile is 8 furlong, a furlong is 10 chains, a chain is 22 yards (though technically there's the intermediate "rod" unit which is 1/4th of a chain, and thus 5 ½ yards) and a yard is 3ft.