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Imperial/Metric Discussion

Alchemist

By Alchemist
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Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker

Posted
Posted
If you truly want a 'scientific' system it would be a horrible mess of things like 'distance that light travels per half life of some radioactive isotope.'

Actually, that\'s exactly what a meter is. Or, to quote Wikipedia:

Since 1983, it is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

Being brought up with the metric system, I know it by heart and it makes a lot more intuitive sense to me than the imperial units. I don\'t, however, see the need to be a dick to my american friends about it (except perhaps in the pub after a few beers :)), and don\'t mind seeing both systems included in any and all games, if it\'s not too much trouble. If it IS too much trouble, I say use the metric system, which slots neatly into the decimal number system that we ALL use, even americans and brits.

But nevermind all that. Harvester, are you planning any new parts for this update? I\'m thinking lander legs and such. Or maybe even some kind of docking system som we can leave part of our ship in orbit while we land on the Mün and rejoin it later? Although I guess that requires instrumentation so that we can actually find it again, which I assume will be a later update...

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Kryten

Kryten

Posted
Posted

A user of the metric system won\'t be able to tell you decameters and decimetres because they simply aren\'t used by most people at all-it would be like deciding the imperial system is completely unworkable because you don\'t know how many gallons are in a hogshead, or how many feet are in a furlong.

The spellcheck doesn\'t even recognise \'decametres\' as a word, that\'s how rare it is.

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Aliv3

Aliv3

Posted
Posted

how about instead of the game deciding to switch between imperial or Metric they just have an option to choose (like Need for speed)

simple enough

No offence but learn to read. All of this measurement crap started when i suggested a simple option to switch between the two, then it became a 'whose unit is better' contest

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Causeless

Causeless

Posted
Posted

I think we can get over the measurement system issue because I have met very proud metric system users that can\'t tell me how many decameters are in a kilometer and how many decimeters are in a kilometer (Alternatively: How about how many decimeters are in a meter?) without looking it up on a table. On the other side I know people that will tell me 3/8ths of an inch is .375 inches, which is equal to 'approximately' 9.5mm and then they will give me the hundredths and thousandths after a few seconds of thinking.

Bonus: Ask people how 'bels' and the relationship to 'deci.' Flies over the head of most people

Extra bonus: Lets try to measure everything in light-microseconds or light-nanoseconds. (Super bonus: You know this without having to use a table, book or internet at all.)

But I will personally never get over the imperial system and liquid measurements except for the most commonly used unit: Gallons (Screw you, cups, oz, etc.)

It is all about the competence of the user. You can find some very good draftsmen that will give you imperial and metric units given only one set.

Back on topic:

What we really need hydrogen with fluoride in the fuel for 'extra fun.'

Firstly, Metric is more exact - you never really need to say that a number is *approximately* this or that, and also the difference is that you can find out what a decameter is once, with little need to put effort into remembering, while with imperial you have to remember lots of values which are all crazy with little relation to each other.

Also, Aliv3, stop acting like you have control over this! :P We aren\'t arguing over you or your suggestion whatsoever, we are just debating about Metric and Imperial.

So, no offence but learn that we can talk about what we want, we aren\'t obliged to talk about your suggestion.

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SchildConstruct

SchildConstruct

Posted
Posted

Firstly, Metric is more exact - you never really need to say that a number is *approximately* this or that, and also the difference is that you can find out what a decameter is once, with little need to put effort into remembering, while with imperial you have to remember lots of values which are all crazy with little relation to each other.

To demonstrate this with an example:

The Astronomical Unit is 149,597,870.7 kilometres (92,955,807.3 mi), or 149,597,870,700 meters (163 602 220 848 yrd). Wait, nobody uses yard out side of the NFL, so let us use feet, which converts to 490 806 662 544 ft.

Since the amount of zeros availbale to us is limited, we can express 149,597,870,700m as 149,597,870.7 *103m, since there are no additional units of length, only the meter, thus enabling the use of the scientific notation (6.67*10-11m3kg-1s-2 for the Gravitational Constant is accurate enough for most people, and way easier to read than 0.0000000000667m3kg-1s-2), as well as easier maths (multiplication/division of exponents is a simple addition/substraction when it\'s the same base).

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Aliv3

Aliv3

Posted
Posted

Also, Aliv3, stop acting like you have control over this! :P We aren\'t arguing over you or your suggestion whatsoever, we are just debating about Metric and Imperial.

So, no offence but learn that we can talk about what we want, we aren\'t obliged to talk about your suggestion.

Im just trying to stop all of this. This isnt the thread to argue about measurements and seriously, im trying to control it? i made a suggestion that made this thread extremely off topic and im not supposed to try to stop that? your not debating you arguing that metric is better thats pretty much all that is going on. your all trying to convince each other that metric is best

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Rascal Nag

Rascal Nag

Posted
Posted

Im just trying to stop all of this. This isnt the thread to argue about measurements and seriously, im trying to control it? i made a suggestion that made this thread extremely off topic and im not supposed to try to stop that? your not debating you arguing that metric is better thats pretty much all that is going on. your all trying to convince each other that metric is best

The best way to stop it is just not mention it. At all. It doesn\'t exist. Wipe it from the records. The Krussians must not know.

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Epsilon

Epsilon

Posted
Posted

Hey hey...

GET ON TOPIC AGAIN YOU PEOPLE.

THIS IS NOT A MEASUREMENT DISCUSSION. DONT START THROWING YOUR IDEAS ABOUT THINGS WHEN THE DISCUSSION WAS CLOSED.

And stop saying your opinion and closing the discussion. It makes you look dumb.

zvtpq0.gif

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comradephil

comradephil

Posted
Posted

A bit like the imperial system then.

Picture the scene, it\'s 1799.

'What length should we make a foot?'

Great Britain: 'Size 6!'

Russia: 'No, size twelve!'

France: 'Oh, you two, act your age, not your shoe size!' *Implements standard*

*16 years later, in Vienna*

Germany: MEIN GOTT! VE MUST GET RID OF THIS SING!

Austro-Hungary: Ja, mein freund, zis is an abomination!

Great Britain: I say, gents, this Napoleonic nonsense must be stopped!

It\'s conservatives like those people there who are the reason the imperial standard still exists!

(Minor Major historical inaccuracies) Who is this guy?

EDIT: In all seriousness, I suggest a moderator moves this part of the topic to off-topic.

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Eat Uranium

Eat Uranium

Posted
Posted

No one should be attempting to do scientific things without using the correct system of measurements (S.I. + commonly accepted units like eV). Say you were making a hydraulic system and the instructions stated you needed to fill it with 2 pints of oil. What pint do you use1?

Still, I\'ve had experience with both systems and that dictated how I would record various things. When someone says their weight in kg or lb, it means nothing to me because I have to visualise the size of people in stones. But at the same time, I don\'t really use imperial units for measuring the weight of anything else (except cooking if both the recipe and the scales support it). For distances, I\'d use miles over km, but smaller distances I\'d quite happily switch between yrd, ft, cm, m, mm as the situation requires.

Ultimately it comes down to which system you are most comfortable with using and which allows you to effectively communicate with others. Except Fahrenheit - that can burn in hell.

1An imperial pint = 20 imperial fl.oz = 568ml, a US pint = 16 US fl.oz = 473ml

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