On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 16:20:27 Joseph B. Reid wrote: >In English-speaking countries we have grown up thinking in terms of >inches and pounds. Converting to millimetres involves a division by 25 >to understand metric dimensions. We soon give up and develop a feel >for millimetres.
But the same could happen or be said about people 'giving up' and settling on developing a feel for centimeters (or any other prefix for that matter). > Centimetres are closes enough to inches to lead us to >attempt a rough mental conversion from centimetres to inches. This >approach can last for years. > Now you've touched on the *REAL* problem of teaching newer generations about the metric system. The **proper** way of doing it is NEVER *E-V-E-R* through the torture of conversions. People MUST be taught to develop a NEW mindset altogether, period! Let them do a few exercises of sizing things up, doing some calcs here and there, etc and in a matter of days his education is complete and effective. He will never have to resort to the old framework to understand his world around him. >There is a possibility of confusing centimetres and metres on a >drawing, ? No chance, Joe. How can one look at a technical spec and mix 5 cm with 5 meters, for instance??? Please, let's be serious here. > but there is almost no possibility of confusing millimetres >and metres. > I'd say that the observation above is valid for *both* situations. I could never mix these two, 5 cm with 5 m or 45 cm with 45 m. There just is no way that would happen. Suffice it to look at the spec and judge for yourself that it would probably be totally absurd to mix these. >Marcus, and Brasilians in general, do not suffer from the handicap of >thinking in inches and pounds. > Excellent. Here we both concur. However, fix this problem by teaching people **properly** and you'll see them abandoning ifp thinking in droves! Marcus ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
