• EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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    12 hours ago

    What I like is the use of parts of inches. Especially the fractions which are powers of two. Very useful. That’s a little difficult with the cm and mm because they’re already so small.

    What? With millimeters you barely have to use fractions because it is so small, how is that a negative? Fractions are also way harder to understand if you need to het precise

    • Victor@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      You’ve already gotten two real world uses here.

      I’m not saying millimeters are a negative. Never did I say that. But I will say a base 10 doesn’t have that many prime factors, so using measurement equipment where halves and thirds and smaller marked out can be pretty helpful. Metric measuring stuff never has that.

      I’m just saying that if you are working with some kind of base size, and want to do stuff in fractions or multiple of that base size, the inch is a pretty good size. 👍

      I’m from and in Europe, and I don’t use inches myself. But there are obviously good uses for it.

      • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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        2 hours ago

        I’m just saying that if you are working with some kind of base size, and want to do stuff in fractions or multiple of that base size, the inch is a pretty good size. 👍

        I have a hard time understanding why you would prefer that over using decimal places to be honest, adding decimal places together is much simpler than different fractions

        • Victor@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          adding decimal places together is much simpler than different fractions

          That’s just because you have less practice with the latter. 👍 There are tricks. 😉

    • Victor@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Fractions are also way harder to understand if you need to [g]et precise

      Not gonna lie, if you are working with carpentry or sewing or similar construction or creative work, you probably shouldn’t have any issues with fractions…

      • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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        2 hours ago

        Just try adding 1/3 and 5/8. In my field fractions like that are nowhere near precise enough anyways, so you’d need to work with thousands of inches, which just makes you wish there was a smaller unit like millimeters

        • Victor@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Just try adding 1/3 and 5/8.

          Cherry-picking fractions with prime numbers. 👍 Obviously no harder than using a readily available calculator just like any engineer would with the metric system. That’s fine too. You’d end up with a decimal answer, so then the benefit is lost, just as with fractions of cm.

          In my field

          Yup, say no more. I’m not saying inches are universally better. Only in certain situations.

          • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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            1 hour ago

            I don’t see how cherry picking is an issue when that issue literally can’t happen when you’re working with fractions, I also don’t think those sizes are particularly uncommon?

    • Dreamer95@feddit.dk
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      12 hours ago

      Not flute working but sewing, and I know it sounds insane, but mm is just to small to be practical. It’s one or two strands of tread whereas 1/4 or even 1/8 gives a proper piece to cut of.

      And 1/4 inch seem allowance is just so much less bulky than the standard 0,75 cm, and so much more intuitive for me to work with … and f. I just realized that all my arguments for using inches are based on habits…

      Even though I’m european I never really applied cm in anything but homework and therefore never got a real sense of it. And a lot of the nice sewing patterns are in inches so that’s where i started.

      • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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        2 hours ago

        Well habits are valid and in the end a cm is just as arbitrary as an inch, but converting between units is just objectively easier with metric