can you explain the us metric unit?

Discussion in 'Education' started by yaasaay, Jun 5, 2011.

  1. GTS225
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    GTS225 Junior Member

    Now, aren't we all glad that we don't use binary? :D;)

    There are only 10 types of people in the world that understand binary; those that do, and those that don't.

    Roger.....(sorry, I had to toss out a little humor.)
     
  2. liki
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    liki Senior Member

    Are you using only 2x4 for outside or structural walls? Here 2x3 is the prevailing choice for inside walls, 2x8 outside walls are pretty unanimous because of 8"/200mm of insulation. Our house has 200+50mm insulation and 2,70m/2,90m high rooms.

    2x4 timber is also finally starting to appear marketed as 50x100mm in stores. :I
     
  3. Aharon
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    Aharon Junior Member

    hindu numbers

    Yaasaay, Hoytedoy is right in the clarification he offered for the origin of the so-called "arabic numbers" - arabs did not invent them, they learned it from the Hindus a long time ago and then spread it to the world.

    The notion of "zero" is another matter, totally!:p

    Troy, I know you are right, I was just teasing you guys (referring to "some old guy's thumb" was arguably an attempt at humor). The "arrogant" bit was due to the punch line of a joke I once heard back in Brazil, that said something like "a country that has so many nuclear bombs does not need to care about the convenience of the rest of the world".
    I remembered you five minutes ago, while I paid for the espresso and the bureka: I got myself counting the coins in Portuguese!:p
     
  4. yaasaay
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    yaasaay Junior Member


    it's Indian numeral system
     
  5. rxcomposite
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    rxcomposite Senior Member


    Like I posted in another thread, I was drawing in acad set to metric but when I measured the part, my mind switched to the English system. The part is a bike part (and I don't know why it is in English) and when I started measuring, all the measurement seems to round off to the english system like 12" long, 3/8" diameter, ect. It does not "fit the metric system because a 3/8" would measure something like a 9.6 mm. So my mind instinctively shifted to the English System which is my "mother toungue". I grew up and was schooled using the English system of measurement.
     
  6. rxcomposite
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    rxcomposite Senior Member

    Heads or tails? Thats binary. There are only two possible outcome.
     
  7. Submarine Tom

    Submarine Tom Previous Member

    Then there are those of us who grew up with BOTH systems. Although, I have to admit, my tape measures are in inchs and I actually enjoy the mental challenge of the complexity of it all during a build, the double checking, two route computing for redundancy. Even though I know metric is simpler and less problematic, I still use Imperial.

    Now Binary, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

    "10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary and those that don't!"

    -Tom
     
  8. Aharon
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    Aharon Junior Member

    "10 types of people..."
    If I ask "does "10" mean "2" in binary", will my ignorance be showing? :)
     
  9. DCockey
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    DCockey Senior Member

    I've worked designing (engineering, not "styling") automobiles in the US and we worked in metric with very, very few exceptions. I can very easily think in metric or feet-inches-etc. The challenges came the few times we needed to go back and forth.
     
  10. DCockey
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    DCockey Senior Member

    Here is one which I do find confusing:

    Does 2.003 mean "two and three thousandths" or does it mean "two thousand three"?

    And another bit of confusing nomenclature:

    What does 2G mean? How about 2K?

    Then there are dates. Is tomorrow 07-06-11 or 06-07-11 or 11-06-07?
     
  11. Submarine Tom

    Submarine Tom Previous Member

    Another is bi-monthly or bi-anually. It means BOTH! More commonly accepted is twice a month or twice a year BUT it can also mean every two months or every two years accordingly.

    Yes, 10 is "two" in binary. It's one-zero not ten...

    Ah, the Dewey Decimal System, isn't it wonderful!

    -Tom
     
  12. Aharon
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    Aharon Junior Member

    I wonder if Yaasaay ever imagined that his question would produce such an interesting thread!
    DCochey, "K" is greek for "one thousand". Perhaps it is easier for latin speakers to figure these things out because these languages (like Portuguese) are deep rooted in Lating and Greek.
    I speak four languages, and the most important thing I learned early on was to "respect other people's way to name reality". This means ridding oneself from any prejudice: there are no words that are ridiculous just because they sound funny to you (example: "cucumber" (pepino in Portuguese) is "melafefon" in Hebrew - sounds like the tale's giant fa-fee-foom, doesn't it?), or too long (zweihundertfunfzig gram butter for 250g of butter), or taken arbitrarily out of the blue (like "banana" - it comes from the arabic banian, which means "fingers", in an allusion to the appearence of a banana bundle - or whatchamacallit! :) ).
    Anyway - our diversity is what makes us an interesting species.

    p.s. - Yaasaay, correct me if the arabic word for "fingers" is spelled wrong, ok?
     
  13. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    In the US, 2.003 is two and three thousandths; two thousand and three would be written as either 2,003 or 2003.

    And the date is written as month, day and year. So tomorrow will be 06-07-2011. Dates are often written with slashes instead of dashes, and a lot of people leave out the space-holding zeros: 6/7/11.

    Two k usually means two thousand to me. I'm not sure what 2g is, although I've heard people say two g's (for two grand) when talking about money.
     
  14. DCockey
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    DCockey Senior Member

    And it's commonly used in engineering and business as in $103K for one hundred and three thousand dollars. In (some US at least) M is used for million and B for billion.

    So what does "G" mean, as in "The most boat for 3G"?
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2011

  15. DCockey
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    DCockey Senior Member

    In some countries 2.003 means two thousand 3, and 2,003 means t and three thousandths.

    Usually it can be figured out by the context, but I've been confused a couple of times.

    True in the US, except the military, and a few other countries.

    In many other countries dates are given as day, month, year.

    Some countries and the US military use year, month, day. This format also works very well for sorting spreadsheets entries by date.

    I prefer to use a letter abreviation for the month and write the year as four numerals if there is any possiblity of confusion.

    "G" seems to be somewhat popular in the US as shorthand for a thousand dollars. It confuses me because I'm used to using 2K for two thousand.
     
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