Readers of the USMA mail list might be interested in a question I received from a client and my answer as it relates to a recent discussion about buying rulers and tapes.
Question:
When I visited a hardware store recently, I noticed that I could buy various different kinds of tapes. There were:
- metric only in millimetres, centimetres and in both millimetres and centimetres;
- US Customary only marked in eighths on one side and sixteenths on the other;
- dual sided tapes with inches on one side and centimetres divided into halves and quarters on the other;
- dual sided tapes with inches on one side and millimetres and centimetres on the other; and
- dual sided tapes with inches on one side and millimetres on the other.
Which should I choose?
Answer:
Buy two tapes.
Tape 2
If you still have to do some jobs in old measures then buy a US Customary tape with both sides marked to sixteenth inch accuracy. Don't get anything too expensive — this tape will hopefully become redundant before it wears out!
Tape 1
Buy a metric tape to do metric jobs with both sides marked to millimetre accuracy. Buy quality — this tape is for the long haul.
Tape 0
Do not buy tapes marked in centimetres. We noticed in Australia that using a tape with millimetres on one side and centimetres on the other was confusing so the Australian building industry chose to use millimetres only. I suppose that using centimetres with millimetres was a kind of dual measuring method, albeit both metric. Avoiding centimetres reduced the time taken for the metrication process remarkably in all the industries where the millimetre only strategy was used.
Tape – 1
Do not buy dual tapes or rulers of any kind. Avoid them. Walk away if they are presented to you. Do not accept them as gifts!
When we upgraded to the metric system in Australia, we quickly noticed that the process went much more smoothly, and was much faster, if you didn't have anything to do with conversions back and forth from old pre-metric measures to the (then new) metric units. We even used a motto for building and construction workers:
Don't duel with dual.
More questions:
Please time your answers.
Which is bigger 9 mm or 12 mm?
Which is bigger 1.2 cm or 9 mm?
Which is bigger 3/8" or 9/16"?
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
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 a Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia and the International Federation of Professional Speakers. He is also recognised as 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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