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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: September 11th, 2023

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  • about 4.9 to 6.2 ft

    Hey! Didn’t you just violate your own rule of “0.2 lower resolution”?

    You’re right about big numbers losing relevance in our minds, but I don’t think that’s even true for units of measurement. Since all units are arbitrary, they are inherently linked to a mental model with simple maths, quick conversions and rules of thumb. 450 ants is too large to visualize, but 450cm is simply the height where an old chestnut tree’s branches start. There are no 450 distinct centimeters involved in any of that, so you don’t have to keep them in your mind.

    Compress down, guesstimate a piece of physical distance, continue with your day. Whether that mental model started as 15 foot or 450 centimeter isn’t really relevant, as long as you have developed a sense for the size of various things in your chosen units, and the units map nicely to other common units you might encounter. If you need any more precision, you take out your tools.



  • Hoimo@ani.socialtoToday I Learned@lemmy.world•The Metric System
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    8 days ago

    All measurements are arbitrary. This feels like that Fahrenheit debate where “60 feels natural for room temperature” as if anyone has any idea what number a room should be. A meter is just a chunk of distance about this size (holds hands apart). There’s nothing a foot can add to a measurement that a meter can’t. You’ll need fractions and smaller or bigger units in all real world cases anyway, so having easy conversions is much more useful than a “natural” base unit.