this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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There's nothing nice or consistent about those fractions. A third of one is one of the other, but a third of that is four of the other? Imperial units don't convert in any meaningful or logical way, you have to memorise the conversions. With the metric system, it's all tens.
And the fact that there are no usable units smaller than an inch and you have to use fractions should drive any craftsperson up the wall.
I agree there’s nothing consistent, but having 3 as a factor in ratios does make things nicer - it lets you stick with integer numbers for more things. I’m not saying it’s better than metric, but I do think having more small factors in ratios is nicer than having only the factors 5 and 2.
I too think having factors of 3 and 4 would be neat, which just proves we should change our number system to base 12, as somebody else in the thread suggested 😊.