Why do people like to say the metric system is more precise?

Question

I'll admit there are certain parts to it that are required and are actually specific enough to make a big impact. I heard somewhere during one argument that the metric system is much more precise in measurments but that doesn't make sense to me. Take meters to feet for example. 1 meter is 3.28 feet...so...

Answer 1

within itself it is precise. If you converted feet into meters, it would not be an accurate measurement either! But within the metric system, everything has a base of 10, which is easier to use, and this reduces error and results in more accurate answers.

Answer 2

It's not any more precise than the Imperial system, but it is easier to work with, being a base-10 system. 100cm = 1 m, 1000 m = 1 km, etc. It's just easier and makes more sense than trying to remember what a meter is in Imperial units. You have to see that it makes more sense than 12 inches in a foot, 5280 feet in a mile, etc.

Answer 3

I don't know that precision is related to the measurement units. Metric is just one heck of a lot easier to use. It isn't a question of precision or accuracy. It is a question of ease of conversion and consistency in terminology. Anyone that says that the metric system is hard does not understand the very idea of the system. It is hard to convert from metric to another system, but within itself, it is easy as heck. You can do a lot of the stuff in your head. What I am saying is that the US anti-metric attitude comes from people trying to convert from their usual system (like farenheit or inches) into the metric value equivalent. No point in that. It is just work, needless work. I know what a liter is, I know what a quart is, and if you say 5 quarts or 5 liters, I have an image of a volume in my head. Five milk bottles. I don't need to know that 1 liter is 1.1 quarts or whatever it actually is. I don't care. It is only needed for translation.

Answer 4

You are just incurably stupid.

Answer 5

Precision has nothing to do with the units you use. Metric is more logical. At least US sticks to imperial units and Europe to metric, not like UK which uses some of each. i.e we buy a pint of beer but milk comes in litres, petrol comes in litres but we still talk about miles per gallon, when it's hot we use fahrenheit and when it's cold we use celsius.

Answer 6

It has the same precision. Unless you are talking about confusing attributes.

Quick, what weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?
wrong!
Feathers are heavier by 25%... I rest my case. Why?? Because the US System has 2 different pounds, 3 different ounces, different units for wet and dry measures, and hundreds of other weirdnesses. It's fun and historic, but difficult! So in that sense, the US system is less precise.

It takes an hour to 'learn' the metric system. It takes "your entire life" to memorize the US Customary system! You think you know it, you don't!!!

Answer 7

You can tell whoever said that that it is ridiculous. 145 kilograms = 319.67 pounds. If two measurements are EQUAL, they are equal. Any metric measurement, however precise, can be expressed in terms of EXACTLY the same amount in imperial measurement... IF they can do math.

Answer 8

It's not more precise. It's exactly the same amount of precise. The precision of measuring is found in the methodology, not the system used. The metric system does make more sense, though. The English system is extremely arbitrary--12 inches in a foot but inches are divided into exponents of two, and there are three feet in a yard and 5,280 feet in a mile. It's just so random. Still, it's what I know, but metric being entirely base-10 makes far more sense.

Answer 9

Precision is not the factor. You can subdivide either English or metric measurements indefinitely. The difference is that metric units are more logical, each step being ten times the size of the next smallest step.

Answer 10

what do you expect them to say ?? "Our system is confusing !!"