On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, David Hobby wrote:
> >
> > This discussion of the unit systems brings me to a different question. If an
> > advanced, alien culture were to study us, for measuring liquids, which do you
> > think that alien culture would consider the superior system? I think they
> > would consider the imperial system superior. Not for the source of the
> > units, but for the structuring of it. The imperial system, with it's ounces,
> > cups, pints, quarts, half-gallons, gallons, etc. uses a binary system of
> > units (1cup = 8 (2^3) ounces, 1 pint = 2 cups, 1 quart = 2 pints, 1
> > half-gallon = 2 quarts, 1gallon = 2 half-gallons). I agree that the other
> > metric systems are better thought through than most of the imperial systems,
> > I think our measuring systems really need to be made into binary system, and
> > there is little point in forcing everyone to metric (base 10 being so
> > arbitrary), if converting metric to binary *then* adopting that would be far
> > superior.
> >
> > Michael Harney
>
> But what about 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon? Or all those awful
> volume units for beer? (What's a keg, 33 gallons or something?) The
> English system uses essentially random factors. You just found a
> sequence where they were all powers of 2.
Well, with 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon and 2 tablespoons in a fluid ounce
(you forgot to mention that one), you have 6, or 0.5(12) teaspoons in a
fluid ounce, and we're back to that whole 12 thing. (Throws me off, in
fact, if I meet a recipe that calls for 3 teaspoons of something --
couldn't they just have said 1 tablespoon? I met such a thing earlier
this month -- and it was from my mother, to boot!)
I don't know about the keg, though.
Julia
