On Friday, April 10, 2020 at 4:06:19 PM UTC-4, dsi1 wrote:
> On Friday, April 10, 2020 at 4:41:20 AM UTC-10, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> > On Friday, April 10, 2020 at 10:32:43 AM UTC-4, Dave Smith wrote:
> > > On 2020-04-10 6:08 a.m., dsi1 wrote:
> > > > On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 10:46:08 PM UTC-10, Pamela wrote:
> > >
> > > >> It's not just weight and measures but also design and engineering
> > > >> where working in sixteenths, standard guage and thou is far more
> > > >> awkard than in decimals.
> > > >
> > > > My guess is that a base ten system is not intrinsically easier to
> > > > work with than any other system. A base 16 system would easily work.
> > > > The trouble comes from making calculations using only 9 numbers and
> > > > zero in other base systems.
> > >
> > > It could be pretty simple using a base of 16. Let's suppose that it
> > > takes 16/16ths to make one unit and call it a toe. Then it takes 16 toes
> > > to make a shin, 16 shins to make a thigh, 16 thighs to make a shin.
> > > However, if we do the same with this 16 base that they did with Imperial
> > > they would screw it all up. It would be more like 16/16ths for a toe, 12
> > > toes to a shin, 3 shins to a thigh, 5280 shins to a thigh....
> >
> > It's much easier to work in twelves than sixteens. 16 doesn't divide nicely
> > into thirds, whereas 12 does.
> >
> > > >
> > > > I started using metric measurements when I found it a daunting task
> > > > to divide an 11" sheet of paper into 3 equal parts.
> >
> > How precise did you need to be, dsi1? 11/3 is approximately 3 and 11/16 inches. Off by about 0.0625 inch.
> >
> >
> > Cindy Hamilton
>
> Why do you want to mix up base numbers and fractions? That's just asking for trouble and the reason why calculating with inches is so difficult. What the heck is 15 11/16" divided by 3? Beats the crap out of me.
>
> It's good to go for precision when laying out pages. Otherwise, I suppose one could just eyeball it. That wouldn't be very professional, would it?

There's software for that.

Better still, measure the paper in picas.

Cindy Hamilton