From the point of view of the UK you don't have things right.
... and here I was under the impression that you were driving in the left side of the road.... ;D
I live in Denmark, and here a billion = million million :-[
I would prefere that a billion was only a thousind million hence loosing the milliard, billiard and trilliard but then again all those years at the engineear acadamy probaly has bias me.
-Fletcher
I live in Denmark, and here a billion = million million
As it is in most of Europe, unfortunately the UK uses the short scale, I guess it is another yankee idiosyncrasy that somehow found its way over here. :-/
Especially as your spelling of country would suggest it is not an English speaking one. In fact your spelling turns it into a part of the female anatomy that is rather rude to talk about.
That is also a measurment of time, distance.
You missed it by a C#nt hair.
Man, if he had been there a C*nt hair earlier he would have scored that.
The 2x4 you cut was just a C^nt hair short, get the board stretcher.
I've spent maybe 10 years in US units, 10 in metric, and 10ish in Chinese units (16 was involved but not any more). (I think I'm still 20ish:)
Having a unified uint system around the globe is a definitely good thing. From my experience, metric units are easier, better learning curve, and more understanding, less memorizing, less proud for Americans, but ok. Yeah, screw sizes and drill bits are a mess in US, compared with those used in metric countries. I have a 35-year old steel ruler from UK that has decimal inches on it. Guess that was what went around UK in the 70's, hoho. Decimal is just more natural with our 10 fingers (how do you count 12 with hands as kids?). You spend more time using the units than just plain memorizing weird numbers.
Maybe there is a reason to keep using difficult units so that everyday joes won't want to understand stuff like science/engineering and just be skilled workers with not much thinking and be happy with what's given to them (my conspiracy theory again).
Having taught college physics for the past 10ish years, I really hate how much the US has embraced with metric units at high school level and elsewhere. I've done enough designs (metals, PCBs) with inches and every time I struggled through. I like decimal inches better than fractions but fractions do look neat and "professional"(?!).
Think about the Lockhead tards and what they did to crash a multi-billion Mars explorer. We're better off using a single unit system.
Well, back to suggestions. I would use mm and have approximate inches in parentheses like 25mm (1inch), use numbers that are maybe close to nice inch numbers and fractions so your US readers have a grasp of reality.
how do you count 12 with hands as kids?
Binary. You can get up to 1023 on your fingers then and it's pretty easy. I used to do it when I was a photocopy monkey.
Binary. You can get up to 1023 on your fingers then and it's pretty easy. I used to do it when I was a photocopy monkey.
You missed a trick there, let's face it when you count, you don't start at Zero as there's nowt to count ... you coulda denoted no fingers as 1024 
Just think of all those copies that you coulda have done extra, lol.
Oh, and I still see a billion as a million million too....
Maybe there is a reason to keep using difficult units so that everyday joes won't want to understand stuff like science/engineering and just be skilled workers with not much thinking and be happy with what's given to them (my conspiracy theory again).
Having taught college physics for the past 10ish years, I really hate how much the US has embraced with metric units...
Except for you have it backwards. If I'm following you, you're saying American Standard is hard and metric is easy.
But in America, skilled labor (carpenters, metal workers, etc... you're average joes) use American Standard (the hard measurement system) and engineers learn to cope with metric (which you say is easy).
You say you hate teaching metric units to college physics students... who are those students? I'll bet 85% are engineers unless you teach some crazy branch of physics. I remember learning everything from vectors to modern theoretical physics, "Einstein stuff." We did Statics and Dynamics... you name it, Engineer students learn it... in metric. But when I was a metal worker saving up money to go to school I used American Standard daily. It's just what we grew up with and what we use for building thing over here.
Am I the only one that finds it hilarious that Americans are patriotic over what are called imperial units in the UK.
Am I the only one that finds it hilarious that Americans are patriotic over what are called imperial units in the UK.
No, your not the only one to catch that. 
No one said we Americans are always smart, rather just always right. ;D
Lefty
I don't know what your point is Schmidtn, imperial units are better? Easier? or what else? I just don't like how much (US) Americans don't know and use the SI system and feel that what kids should have known from childhood (SI) is simply not there. They would think a mm is like 1000 of a m and make all sorts of mistakes with the SI units, where you can't imagine. This is a barrier they didn't have to cross for a science/engineering career if they used SI as they grew up. Since you've used metric you should know metric is easier, unless your love for your country overcomes your smart. If I had to use fractional system like those used in this country, I won't get very far on my physics. I have no problem using decimal with inches but I really have no love for all the different units among lengths (inch, foot, yard?, mile), between lengths and area (acre), and between lengths and volume (I don't care nor do I remember them), where they're supposed to be as simple as m, m^2 and m^3. You folks in Europe and Asia even understand what I'm referring to?
With that said, I repeat, SI (metric for length) units are easier, unless you're a physicist and use Gaussian units for E and M, and natural units in high energy physics.
The unit that always pisses me off is ounces. It's used as a weight unit and also as a fluid volume unit, WTF, they ran out of words or what?
Lefty
I'm not saying one's better than the other, Si asked what Americans use...
I'm not saying one's better than or easier to use than the other... Si asked what units should be used for a book aimed at an American audience. Now, EVERYBODY in this thread has said to some extent that Americans are silly for sticking with Imperial (I've always heard it called American Standard) units instead of embracing Metric.
What I'm saying is a book aimed at Americans would probably benefit from having its measurements in American Standard, or Imperial Units.
Again, I'm NOT getting into a debate about which is better or easier or anything like that. I'm merely answering the question that was asked in the very first post of this thread. This isn't a you're wrong, I'm right deal... it's what's better for the target audience.
For example, if I go out to my wood shop (garage) right now... my table saw, framing square, combination square, tape measure, etc are all in American Standard. I searched my entire house for anything with Metric on it... I found one six inch ruler with metric on the other side.
I'd hazard a guess that's why we never switched over. It would cost a ridiculous amount of money to convert all the tooling over from American Standard to Metric. I'm guessing it's a cost/gain problem, not an unwillingness to learn.
Again, not picking a fight. Not trying to label myself the, "Crazy love of country, American Standard or GTFO," guy. Just saying Americans use American Standard so it makes sense that I book aimed at Americans uses American Standard. One book isn't going to convert an entire country over to Metric.
Cost is a moot point, a lot of other countries switched... including the UK.
The only way you can introduce a new measurement system, is in a phased approach, which also greatly reduces the cost.
For instance, starting to provide all those tools with metric units alongside the imperial ones.
As for american standards vs imperial... I always thought 'american standard' was imperial, but with the u's removed from nearly every word 
PS: not so much an angry debate I reckon, than a serious discussion.
You shouldn't feel offended, you're entitled to your own opinion anyways 
Cost is a moot point, a lot of other countries switched... including the UK.
Not entirely, even today road signs are in miles per hour...
Imagine how much it would cost to replace an entire countries worth of road signs.
So drill bits etc are in mm
afaik, I can't even buy metric drill bits, except by mail-order, out here in the hinterlands.
That wouldn't be a deal-killer for me, but I'm not even close to a "typical" American: since my hobbies include woodworking, machining, and optics, I'll often flip back and forth among fractional inches, decimal inches, and mm in the course of a day. But you'll definitely find a fair number of Americans who would avoid your book, or get annoyed after buying if they had to go through the hassle of adapting your directions to their toolkit.
if they had to go through the hassle of adapting your directions to their toolkit.
A very valid point, hence the most obvious suggestion would be to include both units from the get go... but stick with one unit as the primary.
And regards MPH / KMH (or KPH)... the UK stuck with MPH, yet everything else is Metric. Go figure that one out!!
afaik, I can't even buy metric drill bits, except by mail-order, out here in the hinterlands.
Oh dear :o
At ultramagnus / funky driver: as it said a line later in my post, it is a phased process
Apparently the fuel consumption is expressed in miles per liter, so I can see them switching to kilometers somewhere in the future.
Apparently the fuel consumption is expressed in miles per liter, so I can see them switching to kilometers somewhere in the future.
mpg here...
Yeah it's all a bit weird ;D
NAH, still MPG here as mowicus said... although you buy fuel per litre now. It's only taken 40 years to get this far, by the time we're fully indoctrinated we'll all be speaking esperanto ;D