I am going to order it. But all comments I have read about the book were anti-metric. That comment on CNN last week angered me. The committee that was set up in 1790 to set up a new system of units thought about using base 12, but decided against it.
Han ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Elwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, 2002-12-09 21:23 Subject: [USMA:23862] Measure of all things > Just finished Ken Alder's book, The Measure of All Things. A very interesting and informative read, certainly *not* anti-metric in any way. Learned a bit more French from from it, too. One issue got me thinking: some professions wanted a measurement standard based on 12, so that things could be easily divided into halves, quarters, thirds, etc. > > Just imagine: if humans were born with six fingers on each hand (perhaps two opposable thumbs), or 12 fingers total, then: > > * "decimal" would mean base-12 > * it would be trivial to convert between common fractions and decimal numbers (e.g., 1/3 = 0.4) > * this would make the issue of fractions in commerce vs. decimals in science largely moot > * our clocks would be almost identical to current clocks (based on 24). > * there could still be 360 degrees in a circle, and it would seem like a nice, round number > * etc. > > Perhaps with modern genetic engineering we can create 12-fingered humans, redefine the entire SI system on base-12, and be happy with our clocks and degrees. Jim Elwell > P.S. don't take this seriously -- this is just a bit of daydreaming
