Poll: With which topics in Mathematics should the average high school senior be comfortable?

[Red Squirrel]

We need to go metric. Fractions are bullshit, and impossible to mathematically close. You get dimensions like 17'-11/16"+ Fuck you and your +/-. Also, you have to do math before you get to the math you want to do. Then you get into decimal feet vs imperial. Decimal feet are kind of nice, but not precise enough for typical measuring devices. the smallest increment is ~1/8". Metric makes the math easy, and typical rulers are precise enough for all but the most demanding construction tasks.

I agree, I hate dealing with imperial. And what do you do if you're using a CAD program, you can't really use fractions and 1.5 feet is going to be 1 foot 6 inches, that's just so unconventional. What is 1.1? 1.2? you pretty much have the calculate that manually.

Metric just makes so much more sense as everything is based on 10... like what the real numerical system is based on.

 

[shortylickens]

I like the good grammar in the thread title.

 

[Darwin333]

.0625 is 1/16 of an inch, close enough for precise calculations for construction

Plus I've been doing this for 14 years I don't want to learn metric at this point

Ugh, I've been doing it a bit longer and I completely disagree. I can't tell you the number of metal fabrications that got fucked up because they messed up adding "X'1/2" + X'15/16", especially when they are doing it in their heads in the field. I know it's rather simple math but the conversion gets fucked up all the time and I almost never see fuck ups when adding the same fraction (1/8 + 1/8). It would be so much easier if it was simply "2M 22mm + 2M 17mm" AND it's more accurate because there are 16 standard measurements in an inch and 25 in the same distance using the metric system. No need for fractions or anything means less fuckups from guys who generally aren't big on math and if you do need to convert to a decimal it doesn't even require thought. Base 10 math is just so much easier and better of a system, probably why pretty much the entirety of the rest of the world uses it besides us. I'd pay serious money if every set of plans I get from now on were in metric.

 

[Darwin333]

So your saying that metric construction isn't rounded to the nearest millimeter?

Rounding to the nearest millimeter is a lot more accurate then rounding to the nearest 16th of an inch.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd pay serious money if every set of plans I get from now on were in metric.

I can't like this enough. And holy shit, don't get me started on architects. They couldn't get triangle to close if their life depended on it, nevermind more complex shapes.

 

[renz20003]

Ugh, I've been doing it a bit longer and I completely disagree. I can't tell you the number of metal fabrications that got fucked up because they messed up adding "X'1/2" + X'15/16", especially when they are doing it in their heads in the field. I know it's rather simple math but the conversion gets fucked up all the time and I almost never see fuck ups when adding the same fraction (1/8 + 1/8). It would be so much easier if it was simply "2M 22mm + 2M 17mm" AND it's more accurate because there are 16 standard measurements in an inch and 25 in the same distance using the metric system. No need for fractions or anything means less fuckups from guys who generally aren't big on math and if you do need to convert to a decimal it doesn't even require thought. Base 10 math is just so much easier and better of a system, probably why pretty much the entirety of the rest of the world uses it besides us. I'd pay serious money if every set of plans I get from now on were in metric.

Hope they have good eyesight and can count, I'll stick with my fractions.

standard > metric

 

[Red Squirrel]

Rounding to the nearest millimeter is a lot more accurate then rounding to the nearest 16th of an inch.

Also a lot easier to represent with a number. What the hell is a 16th of an inch anyway, I have no idea without working it out on paper. Some stuff I know because of familiarity, like I know roughly how big a 3/4" pipe is and that it's bigger than a 1/2" but get into the weird ones like 7/16th of an inch and I kinda have to think harder about that one. I'm all about making things easier and metric does that. It's also nice if you need to go from metres to cm or mm as it's all base 10. Who the hell came up with inches, feet and miles, they do not make sense with each other at all, there is no quick way to convert.

I say we start a petition to convert building materials to metric! Metric 2x4's, metric plywood etc. It would take some transition time to move materials over but for stuff like plumbing we'd just need some imperial -> metric adapters until we can fully phase out imperial.

16" is roughly 40cm, so stud spacing would be 40cm on centre. Heck, make it 50cm on centre just to make it a nicer round number without really compromising the structure. Sheets of flat material like plywood could be like 2mx4m or something. Though that might be a little too big to work with, so maybe 1.5mx3m. The thicknesses could be 0.2mm, 0.4mm etc all the way up to 2cm or something. It could be done! Would just require an adjustment period.

As a side note, my new table saw only has an imperial ruler built on it. I may need to change that.

 

[Humpy]

...there are 16 standard measurements in an inch...

Source?

Please don't say "Stanley".

 

[Humpy]

Sheets of flat material like plywood could be like 2mx4m or something. Though that might be a little too big to work with, so maybe 1.5mx3m. The thicknesses could be 0.2mm, 0.4mm etc all the way up to 2cm or something. It could be done! Would just require an adjustment period.

All building materials already come in metric units. Just use a metric tape measure.

And whether it's .2 or 1/5 of a mm or .21875 or 7/32 of an inch, it's still all base 10.