America should switch to the metric system

The merits of the metric system: Base 10 arithmetic is intuitive Used throughout the world, in all fields – Science, Commerce, Travel [1,2] World economy already uses and assumes Metric system [1,2] U.S. Companies are already taking to the metric system [1,2] From the position of pragmatism this debate is straight forward – Conversion within the imperial system is complicated and leads to issues. When you pay for something with a dollar, you can quickly divide it into sub parts (quarters, nickles or dimes), or add them together to create larger parts (Hundred, twenty or fifty dollar bills). This is made possible because there was thought put into the format for our currency. If we were to use a different monetary system, like say Gneubles – which can be divided into 1016 Grumbles and 12 Stubles, you would have to do some considerable arithmetic to figure out the price of an item. Our mathematics is based on a system of 10. It takes 10 pennies to make a dime, 10 dimes to make a dollar, etc. The reason a 10 base system works well for our money is because we have ten fingers, toes and so forth, that we were taught to count on. This provides a simple means to understand mathematics. A 10 base system can be converted to other bases. Examples include computer science and its base 2, or graph theory which changes its base to fit the system. In spite of the conversion, these realms stick to a single base because it simplifies the math needed to be calculated. Having to convert from feet to miles is simple: divide the quantity by a conversion factor of 5280. From miles to inches: multiply by a conversion factor of 63360. From inches to feet: divide by 12 [3]. All of these examples suffer from one common problem: they live in the base 12 world which makes calculation relatively more complex. There are numerous Examples of when conversion factors prove to be an issue but I will point to a few for conversation and evidence of the problem: Science - Mars Orbiter thruster miscalculations lead to a collision with the Martian surface.[4] Medical – A child is written a prescription for medication at the wrong dosage. [5] Transportation – “Gimli Glider,” where unit conversions lead to an airplane being under fueled and running out. “[Fuel] loading was miscalculated through misunderstanding of the recently adopted metric system, which replaced the imperial system.” [6] Commerce – A quantity of rice is purchased in kilograms without the understanding that the price quote is given in pounds [7] America is one of a select few countries that continue to hold to the imperial measurement system Along with the United States, only Liberia and Burma use the standard system exclusively. [8] Using Both Using the standard system alone is difficult, but to have to keep both in mind involves many mental acrobatic acts. It is also part of the problem evidenced above (See Science, Medical, Transportation, Commerce). It can be argued that the conversion to the metric system is causing the problem here, because of a lack of clarity or unified opinion on the matter, but just as with other world problems (slavery, democracy, time shares) when they arise, problems need to be addressed by creating an efficient means of dealing with a global environment. 1)http://www.eric.ed.gov... 2)http://web.ita.doc.gov... 3)http://www.onlineconversion.com... 4)ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov... 5)http://www.wftv.com... 6)http://en.wikipedia.org... 7)http://www.bizjournals.com... 8)https://www.cia.gov...