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From: Man at B&Q on
On Jul 19, 8:56 pm, "Mortimer" <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote:
> "Graham Harrison" <edward.harris...(a)remove.btinternet.com> wrote in message
>
> news:ksadnf00LtcDPNnRnZ2dnUVZ8rGdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
>
> > Good God man, you'll want to get rid of the (monetary) Pound next.
>
> No. The pound is now correctly divided into 100 pence. It was a different
> matter when it was divided into 240 pence ie 20 shillings each of 12 pence:
> I'm glad we got rid of that.

It was much easier to split a restaurant bill.

MBQ
From: Mortimer on
"AnthonyL" <nospam(a)please.invalid> wrote in message
news:4c4587b8.19446109(a)news.zen.co.uk...
> On Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:01:23 -0700 (PDT), NKTB
> <north_korean_tourist_board(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>On 19 July, 14:37, Adrian <toomany2...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>> NKTB <north_korean_tourist_bo...(a)yahoo.com> gurgled happily, sounding
>>> much
>>> like they were saying:
>>>
>>
>>> <shrug> Does it matter? Really?
>>
>>Probably not to us, but kids who learn distances in Km are going to
>>get confused. As they grow up I guess there will be an increasing
>>demand to change
>>
>
> It's a good job they never had to deal with � s d then, with florins,
> bobs, thrupenny bits, farthings, guineas and half-crowns.
>
> And pounds, ounces, stones, cwt.
>
> Poor kids, lost without their calculators.

Why use a system that has mixed bases (not even the same non-base-10 base
for all weight units, or for all length units) when you could use one that
uses base 10 which is the base that we are taught to count in? Keep it
simple!

Computing uses base 16, but at least it's consistent in that *every* digit
is worth 16x the digit on its right - no mixed bases - and it uses letters
to represent numbers greater than 9, so there's always *one* character.

I would find it incredibly difficult to have to deal with converting between
ounces, pounds, stones, hundredweights and tons, whether I used a calculator
or a pen and paper. And as formental arithmetic, well I have enough trouble
keeping track of carry digits and the numbers I'm adding up in base 10,
never mind having to cope with changing from one base to another as well.

From: Mortimer on
"Man at B&Q" <manatbandq(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6b019b56-d212-411f-8daa-29bc19de4b73(a)f6g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 19, 8:56 pm, "Mortimer" <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote:
> "Graham Harrison" <edward.harris...(a)remove.btinternet.com> wrote in
> message
>
> news:ksadnf00LtcDPNnRnZ2dnUVZ8rGdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
>
> > Good God man, you'll want to get rid of the (monetary) Pound next.
>
> No. The pound is now correctly divided into 100 pence. It was a different
> matter when it was divided into 240 pence ie 20 shillings each of 12
> pence:
> I'm glad we got rid of that.

> It was much easier to split a restaurant bill.

�10 bill. Dividing into two, four or five is trivially easy in either case.
Dividing into three is �3.33 or �3 2s 6d. And to arrive at the latter you
have to divide 240 by 3, giving 30d, then do 30 div 12 (=2) and 30 mod 12
(=6).

From: Nkosi (ama-ecosse) on
On 20 July, 10:46, Adrian <toomany2...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Scott M <no_one(a)no_where.net> gurgled happily, sounding much like they
> were saying:
>
> > Anyway, in the real world, the imperial system is far more use than
> > metric. A pint of this, a pound of that, a foot of something are all
> > easily quantifiable amounts that you'd use day to day. Whereas a ml, a g
> > & a mm of things are too small and a litre, kg or metre of something is
> > too big.
>
> Purely because they're what you're used to.

Although brought here unit I was 16 leaving (1972) just after monetary
decimalisation to live in South Africa, totally metricated except for
the machinery in the factories which was mostly ex UK from around 1926
I had to learn both systems for my trade as a mechanical engineer. As
OZ and NZ and other commonwelath countries they drive on the left but
speeds are kph, distances are km. the main reasom TPTB don't change is
70mph is 112.65kph so would they round up to 120 as South Africa or
down to 110 to make us all go slower. I coud care less what one we use
but as the most of the rest of the world is using km why shouldn't we?

Nkosi
From: Mortimer on
"Nkosi (ama-ecosse)" <minankosi(a)googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:cb7ef73f-5a65-4f4b-8b70-d3634933407b(a)w30g2000yqw.googlegroups.com...
> On 20 July, 10:46, Adrian <toomany2...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> Scott M <no_one(a)no_where.net> gurgled happily, sounding much like they
>> were saying:
>>
>> > Anyway, in the real world, the imperial system is far more use than
>> > metric. A pint of this, a pound of that, a foot of something are all
>> > easily quantifiable amounts that you'd use day to day. Whereas a ml, a
>> > g
>> > & a mm of things are too small and a litre, kg or metre of something is
>> > too big.
>>
>> Purely because they're what you're used to.
>
> Although brought here unit I was 16 leaving (1972) just after monetary
> decimalisation to live in South Africa, totally metricated except for
> the machinery in the factories which was mostly ex UK from around 1926
> I had to learn both systems for my trade as a mechanical engineer. As
> OZ and NZ and other commonwelath countries they drive on the left but
> speeds are kph, distances are km. the main reasom TPTB don't change is
> 70mph is 112.65kph so would they round up to 120 as South Africa or
> down to 110 to make us all go slower. I coud care less what one we use
> but as the most of the rest of the world is using km why shouldn't we?

I think you mean that you *couldn't* care less - unless you are influence by
the Americans who get this idiom back-to-front, making it meaningless.

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