I have interspersed some remarks in red.
on 2005-10-18 10.39, Bill Hooper at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The continuing discussion of fractions is considerably off the topic of metric.
That may be so, but I don't believe that it is off the subject of metrication. It is my firm belief, based on my extensive observations, that any metrication transition goes a lot more smoothly, and a lot more rapidly if the metrication leaders plan to limit fractions (to zero or near zero) by an appropriate choice of prefixes.
As I believe that there are many metrication leaders who read this list, I think that it is a good idea to further explore where metrication transitions can be improved using the simple technique of avoiding fractions.
It saddens me to see so many otherwise intelligent folk who choose to go down the fraction path as they begin their metrication transition. I have an extremely bad example right in front of me on the Microsoft Word screen. I have set the default ruler to metric and the Microsoft Company has, by default, divided the ruler into quarters of centimetres. Even if I set my choice to millimetres, each 10 mm space is divided into quarters of 10 mm or lots of 2.5 mm -- it's quite odd, unnecessarily complex and, I think, will retard the metrication process in the USA by many years.
I think I probably started it with my suggestion that adopting metric would eliminate the need to teach fractions at the elementary school level.
It might also have been promoted based on my re-reporting of the efficiency of metrication programs that avoid fractions by the wise use from among the metric prefixes by the metrication leaders. Examples of this are many.
The film department at Kodak introduced the 16 mm film in 1923 (with 10 mm for the film and 3 mm each side for the sprocket holes) and the metric transition was smooth, cheap, and rapid; it was all over in a few months with very few laggards hankering after calling this film 5/16ths of an inch. By the end of 1924, metrication of the film industry was a done deal!
I often quote the building industry in Australia in this context; using only millimetres, metres, and kilometres, they began their metrication transition in early to mid 1974 and it was all over -- again a done deal -- by the end of 1975. There are now near enough to no fractions used at all in the Australian building industry and this comes with all the attendant savings that this efficiency brings. (See http://metricationmatters.com/articles for more information on this in the article, 'Costs of non-metrication').
So I'm going to ask that we take the discussion to private correspondence instead of continuing to post it on the USMA chat list. I have already begun doing so myself. When occasional comments on common fractions contain more explicit connections to metric, I am sure that they would be welcome on the USMA list. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the topic I began is beginning to clutter up the metric list to the detriment of those who wish to discuss metric ideas.
I have to disagree with you here. Although much of the discussion about fractions had little to do with metrication leadership and the planning of metrication transitions, it did begin to focus our attention on the problems that fractions have brought to us in the past and to suggest some ways we might move around them as we individually and collectively plan for metrication transitions in our various industries.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. For more information go to: http://metricationmatters.com
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