I like the metric-imperial discussion. I am always fascinated that, although I went to Engineering School, I am nevertheless reluctant to totally abandon the imperial system, even though it seems at times to be unwieldy, and even completely whack-o.

It seems to me that computers might actually enable it to survive, because they computers remove calculation difficulties. It parallels what is happening with languages. At one time, it might have looked like the internet would become an “English only” domain, or at least “Latin alphabet only”.

But increasing speed and power, plus innovative software have enabled obscure dialects to survive, and complicated writing systems to become very usable. Think about typing Chinese or Japanese on an old typewriter…on a computer, it is pretty darn easy!

Anyway, thanks for reading and participating! (and fostering U-S-A chest pounding…)

- Chris

Well, it probably comes down to a sort of “mother tongue” thing. I’m not grown up nor well used to the imperial system; basic math wasn’t too hard, but once I got to do the more advanced stuff like dividing with fractions (3/4th divided by 4), areas (I briefly worked for a fencing operation: fence off 1/3rd of an acre) and even volume (pour concrete for posts) I really needed pencil & paper!
With decimals it’s so much easier (I find!): simply shift the comma and -indeed- 2 is your base factor.
And I have to admit: I know many tricks for decimal math, and have no clue if any exist for imperial.

1 inch = 25.44 mm
1 inch = 2.54 cm

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!

I find that when drawing, arranging and spacing objects, and working with my hands that inches and feet are easier to work with. A foot can easily be divided by 2, 3, 4 and 6. With metric quantities, you get only 2 and 5, which can be weird and frustrating.

Where the metric system shines is in eliminating calculation errors, and physical quantities like force, weight, etc. All engineers in the U.S. work primarily with the metric system, and students moan when they have to do calculations in feet, pounds and slugs.

In your example it seems that Visio appears to be off by a factor 10. Since 1 inch equals to 2.54 mm, the 1-inch wide smiley should show it’s width as 2.54mm!

According to some people, being American it’s understandable you don’t get the metric system as there is more in the world outside that Americans don’t get…
Seriously: having lived in Canada I got to deal with both systems, and still find the metric system far superior as there is only one basic factor: 10. The imperial systems uses 2 (for fractions: 1/2″, 1/4″, …), 3 (3 feet in a yard) and 12 (12″ in a foot) and -nowadays?- sometimes 10 in systems that require 100′s or 1000′s fractions precision. How cumbersome, and that’s only a fraction of the problem for it get’s much harder when going 3D!