Customize - Urban Dictionary Store

Pro Customization

Create unique products with your own words and definitions

Preview

Personalize Your Design

Your Word

Your Definition

A system of measurement that's excellent for mathematical equations and scientific calculations, but inconvenient for everyday living.

For example, in terms of length the metric system goes directly from a centimeter to a decimeter, and then right from a decimeter to a meter. While centimeters are useful for very small objects and decimeters are okay for small-to-medium objects, there are some things - for example, the human hand - for which centimeters are inconvenient due to their small size making it difficult to get an exact measurement, while decimeters are too large to get measurements that clearly communicate size. That's why the imperial system has the inch measure. Similarly, there are many things, like human height, which are too large to conveniently measure in centimeters or decimeters, but too small to measure in meters without getting a heavily decimalized number. That's why the imperial system uses the foot.

Proponents of the metric system point out how easily unit conversion is, which is indeed very helpful in making calculations. However, this feature's real world application for the average person is limited at best. If you know how many miles or kilometers away something is, how exactly does it help to calculate how many feet or meters that is? If you know how many meters or feet your height is, what is the purpose of converting that to centimeters or inches?

Text fits