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The English system could have been good. Had it stayed with doubling measures it would have been almost like digital bits.No, we are stuck in lousy English system. The reason I use degree C is because electronic part ratings are always in degree C so we (electrical engineers) are used to thinking in that scale.
But 2 cups equal a pint.
2 pints equal a quart.
4 quarts equal a gallon.
Well not quite what you wanted is it.
How many pecks in a bushel? 4 pecks of course.
How much is a peck? Why 2 dry gallons. (used for grain and beans and peas).
320 rods in a mile. And a rod is a convenient 16.5 feet. Not to think of yards (5.5 yards in a rod). 1760 yards in a mile.
See it is all very simple.
Acres did anyone want to talk about acres? Originally defined as one chain by one furlong. (66ft x 660ft). Or 43,560 ft squared. Very simple.
I grew up in the USA with all these odd measures. But fell in love with the metric system at age 8. However, I can do most any conversion by remembering that 2.54 cm= 1 inch exactly. The only exact metric to english conversion. And that a 1 cm cubed of water equals one gram. Those two with knowledge of the old English system lets you do all the conversions. (I'll conveniently not mention slugs though I learned them in engineering course work 32.16 and all that)
So I ask you, especially all of you from outside the USA, is the English system lousy???? IS IT????
Oh, and need I mention Imperial gallons vs US gallons. US gallons are 231 cubic inches. Or maybe imperial tons to US tons? Oh did I forget to mention tons. Well never mind.
PS- 212 F degrees for boiling and a convenient 32 F degrees for freezing is very simple to remember when that is all you heard about. 0 degrees F is lots colder than 0 degrees C. Who is Lord Kelvin anyway?
PPS- fluid ounces actually almost make sense. I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
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