this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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There is only one unit of length in metric. The meter. Everything else is a multiple, which are typically base 10, and have standard prefixes. This applies to EVERY metric unit, including time. If you want to be weird and divide the meter into different bases, there's nothing stopping you.
Fun fact actually, your SAE units are defined in metric. Why? Because metric units are precisely defined instead of being based on the king's foot.
The foot hasn't been based on "The Kings foot" in over a thousand years. The meter is precisely defined via natural phenomenon, but there is nothing stopping the foot from being defined similarly. The inch however is precisely defined, same with the mile, the fathom, the yard, the acre, etc.
They're trying to say that US Imperial units are legally defined in metric: the yard is 0.9144 meters, etc.
Imperial units had to be standardized by international agreements, such as the aforementioned international yard standardized in 1959, because different countries might be using different definitions.
True. But even within those differing imperial measurements, 12inches defined a foot, 3feet to a yard etc. But I agree there wasn't a standard imperial unit of length until recently. Anyway, Metric is fine, but I dislike when people criticize other units of measurement just because they have units divisions that aren't base 10 as if its weird or "shit" that people want to divide things in ways that aren't halves or fifths.