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New Book Says The Meter Is all Wrong

Posted by timothy on from the humane-fahrenheit-inhuman-celcius dept.

Bill Klemm writes "Ken Alder's new book 'The Measure of All Things' scandalizes the metric system as 'arbitrary.' CNN has a little article about a new book that explores the 'odyssey' of Delambre and Mechain to find the perfect unit of measure."

1 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Re:of course it's arbitrary! by SN74S181 · · Score: 1, Troll

    1. Water isn't an element.

    2. A system of measure is for use by people. Therefore it should have historical precedent. A 'cup' is a convenient measure because by human scale it's a typical unit of consumption. Twelve inches in a foot is convenient because it divides evenly by both 3 and by four. How do I divide a meter evenly into thirds??

    Why is uniformity important? What do you mean 'uniformity' in the first place? We could standardize on any units of measure agreed upon.