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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by tsm on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:05AM (#32722504)
I moved from a Fahrenheit country to a Celsius country, and let me tell you that knowing 0° was freezing and 100° was boiling did not help me decided whether I should put on a jacket when it's 17° outside.

(I now know how to interpret Celsius, but it involved memorising certain fixed points. The "30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cold, 0 is ice" rhyme is a good one.)

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by gjulianm on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:35AM (#32722734)
And if I moved to a Fahrenheit country I wouldn't know what to wear when it's 60 degrees. That's the point, that both scales need some "getting used to". Fahrenheit is no more natural than Celsius in that regard, and also has the issue of not having reference points.
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by xxs on Monday September 05, 2022 @07:28AM (#32723132)
0F is the brine freezing point. The 100 is better - originally thought as human body temperature, now it's a mild fever.
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by stackbutterflow on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:19AM (#32722610)
As opposed to what? I put on a jacket at 19°C. That's 66.2 Fahrenheit. How does it help?
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by tsm on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:42AM (#32722783)
My point is that everyone saying "Celsius is so easy, look at how logical it is!" are missing the point that you still have to memorize a bunch of temperatures. Nobody in their right mind is going to say "Well, it's 20% of the way between water freezing and boiling, so I'll wear long sleeves but no jacket today".
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by bearmode on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:55AM (#32722906)
Both celsius and fahrenheit are completely arbitrary, just use whichever one everyone around you is using and you'll be alright. You'll internalise the scale eventually.

It's the one part of the metric system that isn't innately superior to imperial/customary

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by xxs on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:20AM (#32722621)
Celsius does the same thing but with 5 cadence; what you explain is a habit - 70 Frankenstein being 21 science is just as helpful.

For me how it works - 0 is freezing point, 36 is body temperature (you learn that around 4-5y of age), and it's imprinted heavily. Half your body temp is about to begin feeling cold (in general). Picked body temp as it is 100F (originally 100F was meant to be the body temperature)

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by PostOnce on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:35AM (#32722735)
Fahrenheit (the man) was himself a physicist... he invented the mercury thermometer. That's pretty scientific.

So calling it "Frankenstein and Science" is a little silly, especially when we have an absolute scientific scale (Kelvin).

Actually, nobody complains that we use both Celsius and Kelvin, so what problem is there with a third scale for people, if the former two are for industry and science respectively?

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by xxs on Monday September 05, 2022 @07:33AM (#32723161)
>So calling it "Frankenstein and Science" is a little silly, especially when we have an absolute scientific scale (Kelvin).

That was unnecessary, an obvious joke about both, and how people feel about them, etc. C and K scale the same way, so C is just an offset K (or vise versa). Both C and F are arbitrary, of course - zero (as developer) being the phase change of the water does make more sense to me; again arbitrary.

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by happymellon on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:19AM (#32722613)
> I now know how to interpret Celsius, but it involved memorising certain fixed points

But that's literally the argument given for Fahrenheit.

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by tsm on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:41AM (#32722778)
My point is that everyone saying "Celsius is so easy, look at how logical it is!" are missing the point that you still have to memorize a bunch of temperatures. Nobody in their right mind is going to say "Well, it's 20% of the way between water freezing and boiling, so I'll wear long sleeves but no jacket today".
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by happymellon on Monday September 05, 2022 @08:30AM (#32723543)
So you agree that the argument for it "feeling more natural" is actually, "I've already memorised a number"?
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by bmitc on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:33AM (#32722727)
No really. The "comfortability" points are basically separated by 10 degrees F, with only 32 degrees F being the special one.
Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Ekaros on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:42AM (#32722781)
Then again 17 is pretty close to temperature you are entirely unsure if you use jacket or not. On other hand it is pretty pleasant summer temperature. On other if it is windy it might not be so nice.