Like most engineers in the US, I use both systems. Here are some random observations from a few decades of engineering.
There are very few arguments in favor of American (nee Englsih) units other than avoidance of the the cost of conversion. However, it is interesting that the English system just growed and so is user-friendly. Actual values often lie in the user-friendly 1 to 100 range. Derived units are also convenient. Your house water pressure may be 40 psi (pounds per square inch) or 275 kilopascals (unless you're using some secondary unit like bars). On the down side of the English system, the man on the street gets confused between mass and weight when talking about pounds. However, it seems like the metric man on the street gets confused between mass and weight when talking about kilograms, though it's my impression that the metric man may be slightly less confused. For those who are accustomed to using the metric system, but must occasionally use the English system, I'll tell you the secret. It's really very easy. The key is g. (g being 32.174 f/s/s or 9.80665 m/s/s, not 392 Hz) In the English system, wherever an equation should not have g, insert it. Wherever it should have g, omit it. 8-) It's as simple as that. Me personally, yeah, I favor one system. I don't care which system, just one system. 8-) I'm tired of having to carry around constants in two systems and the conversion factors between them (.2248 pound = 1 newton). What a waste of my limited memory! Well, sure, it would be more comfortable for me to stay with the English system since the metric system was a curiosity when I went to school. However, any discomfort from using only the metric system pales in comparsion with the present situation of having to use both systems day in and day out. I live in California. Admittedly California communists are often confused, but our beloved (former) Governor Moonbeam once said about government that less is more. So it ain't just us conservative refugees from a geriatic ward that think that. John B
