Decimalization

[Lancpudn]

Originally Posted by gnu

I prefer metric: more logical. I don’t actually remember using the old currency, maybe I was too young. I do remember tacking imperial engineering drawings though.

That’s my tuppenny’s worth...

My younger brother who is a builder & I used to give him a lift when he was stuck for another pair of hands, He wouldn't let me anywhere near a tape measure though as I always took imperial measurements

[solarsailor]

Originally Posted by Dorset Bob

...They might with the statute mile, but I don't believe that they will ever get rid of the nautical mile.
Ships and aircraft use this because the circumference of the world is divided by 360 degrees. Each degree is split into 60 seconds and one of these is a nautical mile.
360 x 60 = 21,600, which is the circumference of our planet.

Then there is a knot, which gives the speed related in time and again is an imperial system, having 12 hour or 24 hour clocks divided into 5 dozen minutes.
Again a big plus, due to how the units can be divided....

The nautical mile is derived from the meridional, or longitudinal, circumference of the earth and is defined as one minute (1/60th of a degree) of latitude along any line of longitude and measures - to 3 decimal places - 1.151 statute miles. So the earth's circumference is approximately 24,861 miles (1.151 x 60 x 360) and not 21,600.

A knot is simply one nautical mile per hour, so not sure what clocks might have to do with it.

[Dorset Bob]

Originally Posted by solarsailor

The nautical mile is derived from the meridional, or longitudinal, circumference of the earth and is defined as one minute (1/60th of a degree) of latitude along any line of longitude and measures - to 3 decimal places - 1.151 statute miles. So the earth's circumference is approximately 24,861 miles (1.151 x 60 x 360) and not 21,600.

A knot is simply one nautical mile per hour, so not sure what clocks might have to do with it.

Thanks, you are quite right I should have said a 1/60 of a degree is called a minute rather than a second.
However, the logic still holds true that it is a nautical mile.

The earth is approx 21,600 nautical miles in circumference. (360 x 60)
I agree that if you wanted to add 1.151 into the calculation it would come to 24,861 miles, but this would be statute miles rather than nautical miles.

The time is relevant because it makes is easier to make rule of thumb calculations.
For example, 90knts means you are covering 1.5 nautical miles a minute, 120knts is 2 nautical miles a minute etc.

[Dorchester2]

Originally Posted by WillyHeckaslike

Your use of first host family is intriguing, to me at least. Is there a story behind this?

Nothing that intriguing. I wasn't that special as well, neither short nor tall nor fat nor scrawny. I may have been their first (and last...) teen guest. It was in 1968 in Cowley (but actually not the first time in England for me. Previous one was a fortnight stay in 1963 at my grandma Davis' old friend in Wallington then Surrey when I was 10) and my host family was young, with a little child and they were to have another baby the year after. So I assume they were a little obsessed by size & weight because they were lovely and very attentive parents, and hosts. We kept in touch as far as in the beginning 80s: they were invited to my wedding but maybe they thought it was a bit too far for them and even accommodated for free they might have reckoned the journey a bit expensive. Lost opportunity...

[Jdwoodhou]

Amazing to remember the old days when people bought beer by the pint, gave their height in feet and inches and measured speed in miles per hour. I think when you bought property it would be measured in square feet (or acres for farmland).

[WillyHeckaslike]

Ah, I see now, and having just noticed your location together with your explanation it satisfies the intrigue.

Was thinking that you might have been adopted Dorchester2.

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by Jdwoodhou

Amazing to remember the old days when people bought beer by the pint, gave their height in feet and inches and measured speed in miles per hour. I think when you bought property it would be measured in square feet (or acres for farmland).

houses, perhaps older houses and those that are large and may be in the country and not towns, are still sold in acres as the plot size.
The uk still uses miles per hour to measure speed.


macafee2

[mbev51]

Ok, on the one hand there is the imperial system on the other there is the metric system. Can anyone tell me which system the UK uses?

[planenut]

Originally Posted by mbev51

Ok, on the one hand there is the imperial system on the other there is the metric system. Can anyone tell me which system the UK uses?

Can't help you as I convert everything each way - as a rule of thumb!

[roverbarmy]

I did my ONC in imperial and my HNC in metric, so got quite good at converting or sticking with either, or. After retiring, I worked part time in a builders merchants and got quite used to the old boys asking for 3.6 metres of 4 x 2 ! We got shotchanged by decimalisation because we used to get 240 pennies in a pound. We used to get 1760 yards in a mile but you only get a 1000 metres in a kilometre! Don't get me started on a quarter pound of Yorkshire Mixtures.