Why The Metric System Sucks ...A Little History

Reasons Why the U.S. Should Not Use the Metric System - For years, mathematicians and scientists have argued the merits of the metric system. The United States is only one of three countries in the world that has held on to the English measurement system. However, historically, the metric system holds an important place in America. In 1792, the U.S. Mint produced the first-ever decimal-based currency. The Metric Act of 1866, passed by the federal government, made trading in metric quantities legal. The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 established a U.S. Metric Board to convert America to the metric system. However, it did not plan for target dates. In 1991, President George Bush signed an executive order that directed all federal agencies and departments to use the metric system. On April 9, 2001, the U.S. Stock Exchange transition completed to dollars and cents trading. The old system traded stocks in increments of 12.5 cents, or one-eighth of a dollar, based on the Spanish dollar division of "pieces of eight."

Confusion

A change to the metric system would confuse most Americans, who do not know how to use the metric system in day-to-day applications. Every application, from measurements to temperature to weights, requires a completely different formula to change from English measurement to metric. Without a quick reference, the awkward transfer will complicate even the most simple of daily transactions, such as buying gas, which would be measured in liters.

Expensive

The expense of the U.S. changing over to the metric system translates into changed measurements on all packaged products, starting with food. The change would also impact housing and lot sizes, the measurement of temperatures with the new use of Celsius, and the change of mileage and speed signs. The far-reaching implications of the costs would even include vehicle production as the industry switched from miles per hour ratings to kilometers per hour.

Custom

Americans, and people in general, resist change and this applies to the adaption of the metric system as well. Americans seem to embrace the philosophy that the English system works fine and has served us well for hundreds of years. Why should we fix it if it's not broken? We have used the English system since the founding of our country, although history bears out the efforts to implement the metric system in the U.S.

The imperial system evolved over time and is absolutely wonderful.

The entire metric system is derived originally from the distance from the equator to the north pole using France as a meridian. Any advocates of metric that claim that metric is more accurate are full of it, because that is a very arbitrary number.

The meter is defined as "the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1 / 299,792,458 of a second.", and this is a relatively good way to measure a unit of distance. This does not necessarily mean that the imperial units are inferior. The yard is exactly 3 feet. A foot is exactly 12 inches. An inch is exactly 25.4 mm. Millimeters are defined based on the meter.

Metric fans will now go "A-HA! That means that imperial units are defined by metric ones! That means metric is better!"

Unfortunately, due to math (the transitive relation), you would be just as correct to define an inch in terms of light travelled in a vacuum; or in other words, "A = B; therefore B = A too".

That's right, metric units can just as easily be defined in imperial units.

Imperial units are better because you do not need a measuring tool to estimate them, they were evolved to be similar to items that people have readily available in most circumstances.

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