That brings up a question that has been gnawing at me for a while. How accurate do you use the metric system in everyday life? For example if I convert 9-1/8" or 9.125" to mm it comes out as 231.775 mm or 23.1775 cm. Do inherent users of the metric system round it out to the nearest unit so it would be 232mm or 23cm (or in the case of using cm round it to 23.2cm)? I tend to round to the next highest convenient whole unit when dealing with material for constructing something since it is a lot easier to trim off a little bit of extra material than it is to add a little bit. Of course I imagine that inherent users of the metric system would not even be thinking in terms of something being 9-1/8", I am just wondering about how a fraction of a milimeter is dealt with.
Since most calculators use decimal notation I usually go to three decimal places when dealing with dimensions in the imperial system but sometimes four decimal places are needed since 1/16" accuracy or 0.0625" is called for in most cases. You could go to five decimal places if you want to go to 1/32" or 0.01325" accuracy. I do have some specialty calculators that have fractional displays that are helpful when dealing with the imperial system. Most tape measures sold in the USA are marked in 1/32" increments. The tape measures I use now have both imperial and metric markings. I even have an engineers tape measure that is marked in 1/100ths of a foot. I agree that the fractional notation would be more meaningful than the decimal notation because of the way the measuring instruments are marked. :^) On Feb 25, 4:22 pm, cyana <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear modeller mates, > > in my paper model kit, I want to give the instruction to cut a 48 mm x > 27 mm sized rectangle from tissue paper. My question is - is it still > common in US and CAN to give such an instruction with Imperial > dimensions (inch ?). And if yes, is it more common to say, the size of > the rectangle should be 1.9" x 1.1" (approx.) or 1-7/8" x 1-1/16" ? > > many thanks in advance ! > Cyana from MicroArtwork -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Papermodels II" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/papermodels?hl=en.
