Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

Ursus

Member Since

June 1, 2011

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

0

Bio

Latest Comments

Inch vs. Inches

  • June 1, 2011, 9:44am

quote:
//Tolken says:
June 9, 2008, 8:06am
A. Inches are not subdivided as decimals, but as simple fractions. (That's why they're so accurate)
//

how can fraction be accurate??? only if the value is exactly 1/2, 1/4 etc
there are some numbers that can not be expressed with fraction, but can be written as accurate as you want with decimal system.
For example square root of 2 cm (1.41421356....), can be written 14142 um and can be easily converted 141 mm, depending on accuracy one needs. How do you do that in inches?
also metric system allows you to do random mathematical operations with random numbers without any converting.

im not saying you can not be more accurate using inches, you can, but it's useless as it is limited to only few numbers.