I just sent this letter to the editor of Ohio State
Astronomy, a magazine for the general public.
2004 December 13
Editor Ohio State Astronomy
Dear Ms. Weber:
It was good and quite helpful of you to reply Dec 1 to my
letter of November 22. In the matter of inch-pound units,
I have taken time to try to find words to move you to less
use of them. Words are not easy to find because you
express the view widely held by editors that, as you say,
âto communicate with a lay audience ... we generally kept
to common usage.â
May I say that âcommon usageâ need not be the rule?
While inches are common, the general public (the lay
audience) has little problem with millimeters. Most
people want the US to change to metric use. How do I
know?
NIST here in Boulder held a 50-year festival
this summer. I worked the metric table all
day at which I asked âDo you want the US to
change to metric use?â Hundreds of people
said Yes. Only one person said No.
Can it be that your readers need inches? I do not believe
it. Do you?
Could it be that you keep to common usage by inertia?
Maybe with a push you might change.
Maybe if you consider the damage inches do to society you
might give them up. The teaching of inch-pound units has
two bad features.
1. It sustains the split of society into two societies,
humanities and sciences. It used to be that we did not
have this split. The people who founded the USA knew
both of these subjects. Even now we have the âCollege of
Letters and Scienceâ which includes the two. But teaching
inch-pound with its use of fractions makes many students
disconnect. They âlearnâ that science and technology are
not rational, are not to be understood. They go over to
humanities where reason prevails. The result is that US
students do badly in tests in comparison with students
outside the US.
2. Teaching inch-pound units (with fractions) costs the
US $4 billion each year in lost class time. Politicians
ignore this cost. They do not believe it. Few
constituents bring it to their attention. If editors
can ignore the damage, so can politicians.
I hope you find some reason in this matter. Thanks for
your attention.
Sincerely,
Robert Bushnell PhD PE
