Howard, I think it's worth pointing out that few people are bothered that a 2x4 is not even close to 2x4 inches, nor is a 1" board 1" thick. In fact, a 1" board is a lot closer to 20 mm, and a 2x4 is much closer to 4x9 cm than 2x4 inches. So there's an argument to be made to simply rename many old sizes to the closest rational metric value.
This a tough problem. Manufacturing lumber, plumbing, etc. in new hard-metric sizes might sound great, the very large majority of the population who need to maintain their current non-hard-metric abodes will need current standard sized materials for a very long time. Further, houses aren't exported, so the usual economic arguments don't apply. I propose the following bastardized solution: change the lengths of boards and pipes to hard-metric sizes. But leave the other dimensions unchanged, just rename them to the closest round metric value. So I ask, hard conversion, or soft? John On Friday 02 January 2004 05:30, Howard Ressel wrote: > Culture, custom and economy. Even if we go metric 100% I don't see the > paper size industry changing too fast, if ever. Like pipes and lumber, > paper will probably just go to a rational nominal size. Pipe sizes have not > changed in many metric countries nor lumber and other products, just their > names have become rational metric. I don't see the use of A4 paper as a > metric issue rather an international standards issue. Certainly there are > bigger international standards we need to be concerned about other than > paper sizes (IE. formats for electronic equipment).
