[EEGator]

After engineering school, I prefer SI units.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

After a 40 year career as an engineer, I prefer to let the users determine which units they prefer. American engineers recognize the utility of metric units, but don’t need to impose them in the kitchen or carpenter shop where traditional units work just fine.

[DoughtyOne]

What does SI stand for?

I’ve heard of English and metric, but not SI.

[DoughtyOne]

International Systems of Units

Siri knew what it was.

[nascarnation]

Yeah the automotive biz went metric in the 80s. For worldwide compatibility. I’m good with it.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I prefer to buy in kilograms, because you get more.

[FMBass]

When I was in Engineering school (NJIT Chem E) they taught both, the rational being that the piping industry would never convert. Still true as far as I know.

[kosciusko51]

Yes, especially for thermal and fluids.

Besides, when was the last time you saw an appliance or light bulb power usage in BTU/hr? 🙂

[hanamizu]

After engineering school, I prefer SI units.

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And after science classes, I too preferred SI. And then I read an article, maybe in the Whole Earth Catalog of all places that changed my mind.

Yes, the math with SI is much simpler. Pretty much moving the decimal point left or right. On the other side, figuring out half of something is pretty easy, and a quarter, and a 16th can pretty much be done by eyeball, same is true for 1/12ths. Of course this all was settled before most people had access to rulers—the measuring kind not the bossing around kind.

The meter was based on a fraction of the estimated distance between the equator and the pole. The yard was based on the distance from your nose to your outstretched arm—very useful for measuring cloth.

The foot, well, based on a human foot. Which human? Who cares. The average man can get a decent measurement just by heel to toe.

Measure the height of a horse? Use a hand (4 inches). Length of line or depth, use the fathom which is about the distance of two outstretched arms.

Point being the traditional system is basted on the human body, which most of us have at hand, while SI is based on well, Science!

But again, I agree that the math is much easier to do with the SI system.

[DennisR]

Same here. Not even close. I have a tape measure that does both units and use metrics whenever I can.