THE METRIC SYSTEM CONVINCER

THE METRIC SYSTEM
CONVINCER
.

NEWS

The European Union no longer wants to accept products containing labels with dual systems, and has set a deadline for all exported products to be labeled in metric units, which they feel may force the United States to convert.

CONVINCER
. . Metric is vastly better --it's only the momentum of centuries that stops one last country from thinking about it. That final holdout is not the poorest, most uneducated country, as you might think. It's the U.S. Only about half of their measures are modern.
. . Allow me to demonstrate. I'll give us equivalent math problems dealing with the measurement of a similar distance: a mile versus a kilometer, and an eighth of an inch vs a millimeter.
. . Here we go. It's simple... you tell me how many eighths of an inch there are in a mile, & I'll tell you how many mm in a Km. Simple: I take a thousand times a thousand... (3 zeroes plus 3 zeroes) my answer's a million. Your's?
. . Gee, not thru yet?! Ok, let's see all the math you gotta do. Eight eighths in that inch, and that times twelve... that's... what? you need a calculator already?! I'll tell ya --it's ninety-six. Ok, what's next? Where were we? Feet. Ok, we gotta remember that strange number: five thousand, two hundred and eighty feet in a mile. (No, I donno why! Miles were a thousand paces of the Roman Legions. Belgian Legions strode eight times as far per pace. Anyway...) Where were we? Oh yah, feet times miles. No.... Anyway --twelve times five thousand, two hundred and eighty. That'll require a calulator for sure. I'll leave you babbling and sobbing there, without asking you to calculate rods and chains.

So... you see how much simpler it is. Ok, you do hafta remember a few terms, but they're all powers of ten, & half of 'em are never used. Every measurement is ten times the next. Ten mms is a centimeter. Ten of them is a decimeter (Almost never used). Smaller than a meter (or liter, etc), that's milli-, centi, deci. That's from latin for a thousandth, hundredth, and a tenth (as in decimate). A hundredth of a Franc is a centime; a hundredth of a dollar, a cent; a tenth of a dollar, a dime.
. . Okay, above the basic measure is ten --that's deka- (forget that one too), hecto- (ferget it), and the well-known KILO! That's for ten, a hundred and a thousand.
. . There's lots more, and we're beginning to use 'em a lot, especially in computer terms. Hard discs and memory has gone from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes. Soon, terabytes. Yup, you know already: thousands, millions, billions, trillions, (what?) PetaBytes = 1 Billion TeraBytes. Then exa-. Never mind.
. . All ya need to know is milli- and centi- for smaller than the basic... and kilo-, mega-, and giga- for larger.
. . The basic measures: liter for volume. Meter for distance. Gram for weight. Each is modified by the prefixes above.

And not only is it all tens, but different measurements tie in with all the others. Here's all 3 measures, in a relationship: a kilogram is the weight of a liter of water, of a cube ten centimeters on a side --by definition. A cubic meter of water is a ton --by definition. A cubic yard of water is what? I donno, but it's sure to be an odd number --probably with a few decimal points.
. . Speaking of which... notice that EVERY multiplier/divisor in the ancient collection of measurements is some who-knows-why number, and that NONE of them is the ten we really need, to see any relationship to anything else!!!! Three of those in one that; twelve of these; 5,280; 1620, 238, etc, etc, etc, not a ten in the bunch!!
. . One more craziness: note how I said "ancient collection of measurements" above, stedda "system". That's cuz it's a conglomeration, not anything like a "system"! They nudged it just enough to make things come out in even numbers, at least --so it wasn't eleven and five-sixteenths inches in a foot. Thanks a lot! Metric is a system! Everything relates to everything.
. . Tell me how many inches on a side of a gallon? Betcha never thot of that! There's 10 cm on each side of a liter. So... you calculate how many cubic inches there are in a gallon, I'll do CCs in a liter. Mine's a thousand (10X10X10=3zeroes). Your's? What? ...you don't even know how to start?!
. . Then leave cubic inches in a cubic acre for later --it'd kill ya! OR... just give it up and join the world.

May 14, 06: Brent A. Maynard, a chemistry professor at Three Rivers Community College, is a champion for the metric system. He says he weighs 74 kilograms and is 169 centimeters tall. And if you ask him for directions, he'll give them in kilometers.
. . Soda comes in liters, film is in millimeters and electricity power is based on watts. Most food products use grams on their labels.
. . The hodgepodge of units has led to problems. In 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the Martian atmosphere because NASA navigators mistakenly thought a contractor used metric measurements when standard units were actually used.
. . The furlong —-an eighth of a mile-— is the distance a farmer could plow in a field and still be in earshot of his house if there was danger, Leslie said. Etymologists believe the word represents the distance a team of oxen could plow without needing a rest.
. . Maynard; President, York Metric Assoc. 75 Cranska Road. Moosup, CT 06354. Phone: Fax:. Email: bmaynard@trcc.commnet.edu

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