Date:         Thu, 16 May 2002 20:42:48 +1200
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: Warning!!!  Check Your Speedometer - What a Sad, Sad Example
In-Reply-To:  <p04330126b908314e90b1@[192.168.99.102]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

>Reportedly, grade-school students spend a few days on measurements,
>practicing moving the decimal place around. Once they grasp the ease
>of metric, they forget it. No conversions to do. Nothing. Then they
>move on, while American students spend endless days (not)
>understanding how to convert inches to feet to yards to miles to...

Matric is the ONLY system which makes any sense. The meter itself may
be arbitrary in length, but the other measures are all based directly
on it.

1000 microns = 1mm
1000mm = 1m
1000m = 1km

It's all based on thousands, not hundreds.

1000mm3 = 1cm3 (=1ml)
1000 cm3 (ml) = 1l
1000l = 1m3

Also:
10mm= 1cm
10cm = 1dm
10dm = 1m

What could be more logical? I'm glad I began using metric myself as a
kid, before Canada (where I lived then) metricated. I can't remember,
nor do I care, how many feet or yards there are in a mile. And I use
maps a lot, being a paleontologist (of sorts), and often need to work
distances out exactly. On the maps 2mm=50m. 20mm=1km. Easy.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut