The "Old" Standard...
Growing up in the 50s were only knew one thing... The old standard of measurement. Not sure where this system came from based on variations of 12s. 12 inches to a foot and everything that followed. 3 feet to a yard. 5,280 feet to a mile. And the fractions that followed.
Nothing is quite as easy as a measurement of 19/32 of an inch... or 35/64 of an inch. OMG.. Really?
Back in the 60s... the powers to be, tried to convert to the U.S. to the metric system based on "10"... much simpler, much easier. No one on the old school system wanted to make a change. Some road signs were put up both in standard and metric. No one would convert. And history was maintained in the same old chaotic system. I mean it's not terrible... But the metric system is so much easier for measurements.
Like the old temperature system where water freezes at 32° Fahrenheit. Celsius makes more sense... water freezes at 0°. Plus just about every country is on the metric standard & Celsius system. The U.S. is clearly behind the times. And in a world economy of goods and services, we are caught dealing between dealing with the two systems... It's a real pain. Two different sets of tools and hardware, having to figure out which one you need... in frustration.
Dealing with fractions for certain applications may be ideal... but measurements not so much.
Old school systems... Some things just won't give way for a better system. Do the world a favor? Don't teach fractions for measurement... even as a tool.
So how is this helpful?
