Centimeters and Millimeters, Inches and - eh? 1

[BIS]

Hallo All,

Just wondering - can an inch be subdivided? Or do you just call it "half an inch", "one third of an inch" etc?

I was watching snooker, and the commentators on a specifically brilliant shot mentioned it was 'inch perfect' - but in reality it was much better than that.

 

[rjoubert]

Half inch, quarter of an inch, 3/8 inch, 7/16 inch, etc...

Your standard issue rulers go to the 16-ths of an inch.

 

[BIS]

Thanks ! Learn something new every day.

 

[philhege]

I could imagine "inch-perfect" referring to the leave. The shot would be infinitely more precise.

 

[edfair]

Fairly common to divide it to the thousanth of an inch. Measuring it can be tricky sometimes.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[flapeyre]

For most uses (construction, etc)., an inch is divided into 64ths, reducing the fractions as appropriate.

So you have 1/64", 1/32", 3/64", 1/16", and so on.

Anything requiring more precision is expressed as decimal inches to the nearest hundredth or thousandth of an inch. But for that kind of precision, even the US tends to go metric. The auto industry is mostly metric now, what with the global economy. And it's rare to see scientific measurements in customary units anymore.

Tibi gratias agimus quod nihil fumas.

 

[ESquared]

Machine shops use "thous" as in "thousandths of an inch." It's pronounced not like the archaic pronoun but with a soft th and an s that sounds like a Z. I actually don't know how to spell this abbreviation, since I've only ever heard it spoken.

 

[Lunatic]

Yeah, contractors (the guys with the hammers and nail-guns) in the US usually use:
1 inch
1/2 inch
1/4 or 3/4ths
1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8ths
every odd 1/16 to 15/16.

A few even use 32nds and 64ths but thats usually more precise than the margine of error more most construction measuring devices - and then the user's ability to fall within that range ;-p

<off topic>
As the son of a contractor - the saying should be "He can swear like a contractor" - sailor's don't have jack on my dad.
</off topic>

However in most machine shops where they far more precise equipment, the measure things in hundreths of an inch.

Why those shops don't convert to metric is beyond me. Another thing I've developed as the son of a contractor who has spent years helping him on-and-off, is a very healthy dislike of the English measurement system. Metric is really the way to go.

***************************************
Have a problem with my spelling or grammar? Please refer all complaints to my English teacher:
Ralphy "Me fail English? That's unpossible." Wiggum

 

[Grenage]

But always ask for cm/mm. We've got to force the buggers over to metric.

Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[edfair]

But the American standards for screw sizes and thread pitches are so much more fun.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Aren't "American standards for screw sizes" bigger than others? Or is size still not important? <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[strongm]

> We've got to force the buggers over to metric.

Bah!

 

[flapeyre]

I'll stick with American.

Give the metric advocates 2.54 cm, and they'll take 1.62 km every time!

Tibi gratias agimus quod nihil fumas.

 

[ascotta]

If I am right, seldom so but there you go, but the Centimetre is not an International Standard unit of measurement. It was only introduced as a teaching aid as mm are a bit hard for kids to draw.

I was brought up in lbs/shillings and feet, but have converted mostly to mm/cents/Kg's even throw a litre in now and again.

It is amazing how quick you adapt.

[blue] A perspective from the other side!![/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[BIS]

Wow - so many replies. Thank you all for enlightening me.

 

[Welshbird]

I can't make myself think metrically.

I can work out that 4oz of cheese is about 100g of cheese, but I can envisage 4oz. 100g is just meaningless to me.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Thargy]

Er,

have you got any camembert Willif?

Oops, wrong thread...

T

Grinding away at things Oracular

 

[SantaMufasa]

I can't make myself think metrically.

As I mentioned in the other thread, Fee, I'll bet you use &quot;New Money&quot; (Decimal) much easier that the old Pound/Shillings/Pence where there were 240 Pence per Pound.


It's just like learning French or Spanish: as soon as you start thinking in the other language (instead of mentally translating everything from English to &lt;Language 2&gt it's much simpler. If you start thinking &quot;I need to buy a litre of milk&quot; instead of &quot;I need to buy a quart of milk&quot;, you're halfway there. Don't you find it easier to think of buying a &quot;kilo&quot; of cheese instead of buying &quot;2.2 pounds of cheese?&quot; I'll bet you can (or &quot;Will-if&quot; you have to) &lt;big grin&gt;

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[KenCunningham]

Part of the reason engineering firms don't go metric is undoubtedly the cost of recalibrating (or even totally replacing) equipement such as lathes I guess.

As for the 'pint', please do not suggest that a half-litre offers the same time-honoured satisfaction as that particular imperial quantity!

I want to be good, is that not enough?

 

[SantaMufasa]

Well taken, Ken. Some things will probably never change...I can't imagine John Madden shouting,

He just ran from goal-line to goal-line for a 91.44 meter touchdown!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]