On Nov 30 , at 1:02 PM, Pierre Abbat wrote:
> All but two of your examples (the case and the kilowatt-hour) are from one
> metric unit to another with the conversion factor being a power of ten. How
> about using ancient units? Here are some possible problems.
Are you objecting to using metric units? How strange!!!
I continue to question the use of ancient units from Ptolmaic taxes through
Biblical shekels to Ye Olde English units.
The value of teaching grade school children to do such useless things as you
suggested in your examples (below) escapes me completely. If we can't find
currently useful examples of how to do conversions USING CURRENTLY USEFUL UNITS
(SI or acceptable for use with SI, or non-measurment units such as dollar or
euros), then perhaps we should just drop the whole idea of doing conversions
entirely.
> A shekel is 11+2/3 grams and an ephah is 22 liters. How many shekels of water
> are in an ephah? (To make it more complicated, state the number of cabs in an
> ephah, and ask how many shekels are in a cab.)
>
> An ardeb is XXX grams and an arura is XXX square meters. The tax on wheat
> during Ptolemaic times was XXX ardebs per arura. Epchois mes Bohair has a
> 5-hectare wheat field which produces XXX kilograms of wheat. If the tax were
> still in effect, what portion of his crop would he have to pay in tax?
Regards,
Bill Hooper
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