I work in a customer facing position in the US where factions of an inch are used for measurements frequently in the design of a product. I deal with people who don’t know 5/8 is smaller than 3/4 or that 3/8 is smaller than 1/2 on literally a daily basis.
People are dumb and I absolutely believe the burger anecdote.
I work with people who can’t count on a daily basis - This doesn’t mean that nobody can count, it just means that I get calls/emails where someone made a mistake and they need help correcting it. I get to see all of these instances occurring which creates a focus on it and in turn, a bias - if I only get calls/emails of people not being able to count, but no calls/emails about people not being able to spell, then the bias I have is that people suck at counting and are good at spelling.
My point is that there are plenty of people that do understand it, but the people that don’t stand out and create a bias in your perspective.
You know I don’t work with fractions of an inch on a daily basis… Or even monthly. But inevitably a couple times a year it’s relevant. Every single time I have to take 3/4 multiply it by 2 and get 6/8, then I have to subtract 1/8 to get to 5/8. Repeat ad nauseum to get to whatever time fraction is needed.
It’s frustrating and slow and makes me feel dumb.
That said last time I did it, I measured a 1/8th difference between cabinets we ordered from IKEA and the space they went in and I’ll tell you what, I felt like a genius when it all just fit, perfectly.
Now imagine how good you’d feel if you used Roman numerals to do that
On a serious note, I once heard that an important reason maths was hard for Romans is because of a wrecked writing system. So maybe not using fractions other than fractions of 10 is the way to go
I work in a customer facing position in the US where factions of an inch are used for measurements frequently in the design of a product. I deal with people who don’t know 5/8 is smaller than 3/4 or that 3/8 is smaller than 1/2 on literally a daily basis.
People are dumb and I absolutely believe the burger anecdote.
I work with people who can’t count on a daily basis - This doesn’t mean that nobody can count, it just means that I get calls/emails where someone made a mistake and they need help correcting it. I get to see all of these instances occurring which creates a focus on it and in turn, a bias - if I only get calls/emails of people not being able to count, but no calls/emails about people not being able to spell, then the bias I have is that people suck at counting and are good at spelling.
My point is that there are plenty of people that do understand it, but the people that don’t stand out and create a bias in your perspective.
Imagine getting a call:
“Hey), just calling to tell you everything went fine and I don’t need any help. Bye!”
Those are the best calls lol
“Hello- Oh, you know what, it’s working now we figured it out, sorry. Have a good day!”
You know I don’t work with fractions of an inch on a daily basis… Or even monthly. But inevitably a couple times a year it’s relevant. Every single time I have to take 3/4 multiply it by 2 and get 6/8, then I have to subtract 1/8 to get to 5/8. Repeat ad nauseum to get to whatever time fraction is needed.
It’s frustrating and slow and makes me feel dumb.
That said last time I did it, I measured a 1/8th difference between cabinets we ordered from IKEA and the space they went in and I’ll tell you what, I felt like a genius when it all just fit, perfectly.
Now imagine how good you’d feel if you used Roman numerals to do that
On a serious note, I once heard that an important reason maths was hard for Romans is because of a wrecked writing system. So maybe not using fractions other than fractions of 10 is the way to go
What if you just didn’t use fractions of an inch
Fractions of 3 barley corn just seems even more confusing…
Reminded of… Verizon Math (Piped)
Reminded of… Verizon Math (Piped)
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Verizon Math
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