Metric is currently the “ preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce”

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml;jsessionid=8314B6B7A95CC...

As you mentioned, the foot and all other U.S. customary units are based on the International System of Units (SI).

https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/metric-si

The biggest historical reason for the current state of affairs is that metrification largely came with industrialization, but in the US industrialization had already happened with US customary units and industrialists resisted the change. Or that’s how I understand it.

There are largely tangible benefits using imperial over metric, builders arithmetic is much easier for one, it's all fractions based.

I m not sure I get that. You can subdivide metric as well, and we build a lot of things in China, Japan, Germany, England, France, Australia, us metric system users.

It seems that the US, Myanmar and Liberia, the current users of the imperial system, could join us with minimal or negligible cost.

I think what they are trying to say is all the building materials and measuring tapes are designed with halves quarters, eighths, etc. in mind. But obviously that could have been done in metric too. But 2 and 5 are the only common factors in metric. 12 inches in a foot means 2 3 and 5. 5280 feet in a mile is similarly dividable. One of the reasons metric time never took of was because we have more factors in 60 and 24 than in 10.

> It seems that the US, Myanmar and Liberia, the current users of the imperial system [...]

Nitpick: That's wrong. Neither the US, nor Myanmar use the imperial system.

The US uses US customary units, while Myanmar uses traditional Burmese units of measurement. Neither of which are imperial units (as defined by the British Weights and Measures Act) and only US customary units are related to the imperial unit system.

The cost isn’t that minimal when everyone has materials denominated in customary units anyway, tool sets in them, and so on, and the benefit isn’t that big when the industrial and scientific applications that really would most benefit are already done in metric.

At risk of asking a stupid question, why is that easier than moving a decimal point around?

It’s much easier to cut something in half and half again, to get 0.25 then it is to cut something in fifths to get 0.2, for example. So if you’re a proficient carpenter you have all sorts of tricks and geometrical constructions that let you work quickly without necessarily making a precision measurement or taking out a measuring tape.

Imperial gets tricky real quick as soon as you need to mix additions/subtractions with multiplication/division which happens surprisingly often in building.

eg: imagine you have a 5 & 1/2 foot cabinet with 4 equal sections framed out with 3/4" boards, what is the height of each section? It's (5 & 1/2' - (5 * 3/4")) / 4 which I guarantee nobody is working out in their head easily.

Metric system or Imperial system; we could all benefit if we, humans, had 12 fingers!

Decimal system isn’t our finest legacy. If we had to go back in time, we’d change history by choosing duodecimal system from the get go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal

Senary seems most optimal.

The level of precision offered by that is too high for just one-man woodwork or something, I guess is the point.

How so?

You can divide a foot in half, thirds, quarters, sixths, eighths, etc and the divisions will all end up exactly at a mark on your ruler or tape. Most of these can be subdivided again and again because the ruler is marked in 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 divisions, rather than powers of ten.

You can add any kind of divisions in the ruler, not matter what unit you use. It's just a historical curiosity.

Metric rulers just don't use those because there is tradition of using different fractions. In metric you typically use: 1, 3/4, 6/8, 5/8, 1/2, 3/8,1/4, 1/5, 1/8, 1/10, 1/20, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100...

I've never actually seen a "metric" ruler with non-decimal divisions, but that would work.

People go the other way too--some American machinists work in 'mils' (=1/1000 of an inch), since one often wants (and can achieve) that kind of precision.

This video goes over the failures of the UK, US, and Canada switching to Metric (from the perspective of a Canadian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s95cxZkC_es

While I agree that Metric is better, converting isn't very practical. Imagine the cost of having to change every sign, book, and other text using imperial measurements, as well as any programs and tools that are based on imperial. It just wouldn't happen.

We could pass a law saying "we're metric now", but it would likely just be a formality while we continue using Imperial.

You don’t have to change everything all at once. Make new things use both. Then later make new things use metric only. Maybe. In the UK milk comes in multiples of a pint but with millilitres shown on the packaging too.

So do American products.

Except soda and liquor which are in liters.

Things that are all possible and payable in every country on the planet, poor or rich, except the US of A