On Sat, November 11, 2006 6:27 pm, Andrew Lentvorski wrote: >> Too bad, especially in time. Kids have to learn >> it, but it's really klugey[0] > > I'm not as convinced it's so "klugey". We use a lot of our units to > define an implied precision which is missing in metric. People don't > like to move the decimal point until 10^3 for calculation. However, > that confuses precision. A quarter hour and 14 minutes imply very > different precisions. 250ml probably does not imply 250ml+-1ml. It > probably implies 250+-25ml, but you jumped to that conclusion because it > is 1/4 of a liter (oops, there's those fractions again). > > In metric, is 50ml of red wine in a recipe: 50ml+-1ml or 50ml+-5ml? > There is no ambiguity in an English recipe, you would specify one in > teaspoons and the other in tablespoons. > > This is actually *very annoying* when baking and using a metric recipe. > There are certain French cakes with ingredients in which precision > matters, and I actually have to scribble the blasted numerical precision > on the recipe card to get it right repeatably. > > -a
A wonderful example of an otherwise intelligent person defending what he's used to. Kind of like when an Englishman defends their old monetary system (what's the difference between a bob and a quid again?) -- Lan Barnes Tcl/Tk Enthusiast SCM Analyst Linux Guy Biodiesel Brewer -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
