Does an average American know this? (please read on)...?

Question

I really mean no offense, but does an ordinary American know what the correspondence is between:

- Fahrenheit and Celsius degrees?
- feet (and inches) and metres
- miles and kilometres
- pounds and kilogrammes

and any other kind of measures that are used differently in other countries?

I really mean no insult. I would probably not know, myself. So, I'm not trying to attack anyone.

No trick. I've just answered a question including a temperature, and I thought I'd use both ºF and ºC just in case. But then I thought the asker (an American) would not need the conversion, and would know it himself. I am really not attacking anyone here.

Answer 1

Yes, we know there is a difference. But to mathmatically calculate them, most Americans would need a point of reference.
I guess it just matters where you grew up.
Cheers

Answer 2

No I would say not. Same with the people of Turkey and some other countries I have been to in Europe that swear to use the Metric but still use the more ancient measurement systems. The one the gets me is the English use of "stones." I believe it is 14 pounds to a stone... English friends can you verify this for me? And does anyone want to tell me how many kilos are in a stone?

As far as why the average person does not know the metric system is because it is so common practice to use the "king's measurements" But I do know that the circumference of Earth's orbit is around 940 kilometers. And that Grace Kelly when alive was flippin hot in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Answer 3

Speaking for myself only, so I don't know if this applies for the average person from the US...

-I don't know the actual conversion rate, but I can guess pretty closely.
-not well, but I know my height in centimeters (so I'm sure I could figure out the conversion rate with a simple equation).
-of those you've listed, this confuses me the most.
-followed by this one, but I know my weight in kg (same thing as for the ft/meters).

Luckily, I'm a very good internet user, and I know which online measurement conversion tools are the best. It may interest you to know that Jimmy Carter wanted to get us to convert to the metric system, but the idea never got off the ground--lots of backlash. Personally, I think it's unbelievably ridiculous that we don't use the metric system...but then again, I can't speak for the average person from my country...

Oh, and Mindbender's right, they do teach us the metric conversions briefly in school, but we never get the chance to use it, so most of us (like me) probably forget it very quickly.

Oh, and also, as far as having to give someone the English measurements in an answer, you really don't have to. Even if the asker doesn't know how they convert, they can tell what a lot is and what a little is. And if they really need to know, they can find a metric converter easily online. Unless they turn out to be a weirdly xenophobic nutjob about their measurement system, then they shouldn't have a problem with it. Actually, some of these nutjobs do, in fact, exist, but that's their problem, not yours.

Answer 4

The metric system is being taught in American schools, but it is not widely used in real life so it tends to be forgotten by the "average American". Part of that is due to the vastness of the US. It spans an area 1600 miles from north to south and 2500 miles from west to east. That would be 2574 kilometers by 4020 kilometers. That is a big area and you have many older people who are not at all familiar with metric. I hope to see it take effect soon, it makes more sense to me. units of tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.

With American measures it is 8 ounces to a cup. 2 cups in a pint, 2 cups in a quart, 4 quarts in a gallon or 128 ounces.
12 inches to a foot, 3 feet in a yard. 5280 feet in a mile.
Eegads, that is a lot to memorize. There seems to be no consistency in the units. With metric everything is uniform from one unit to the next larger unit.

To their praise, auto makers have already made the switch to metric. All of the nuts and bolts I have encountered on newer cares are in metric sizes. Even fan belts are now listed with dual dimensions.

It will take time but the switch will come.

Answer 5

Of course they don't. Stupid question, and Panacea's answer explains why. Though really, metric is used in science and medicine....but since the rest of the country is non-metric...why would they need to know how to convert?

If you ever get a chance to see clips of "Talking to American..." by Rick Mercer on the CBC show "This Hour has 22 Minutes" they are hilarious.

Americans think they are the premier nation in the world, and don't need to look beyond their own borders or interests. The Romans used to think that too, just before the Vandals sacked Rome.

Answer 6

As far as I know, the only 2 countries in the world that haven't formally adopted the metric system are the U.S. and Burundi! Might be a couple more - none of the major countries, though. The American public desperately resists the metric system.

Answer 7

Everything except F to C- I always get them confused!!

9/5 ot 5/9 +32 -32... errr... ummmm..... DAH!!! It's not because I don't care but because it's tricky!

I have to use the SI all the time, being in science. I think we should use that instead- I think all scientists agree and thus the predominance of metric in scince- because it's easy to convert, clean, easy notation, and evident prefixes.

For example, even if youd never 'seen' a kilometer before, you would know that kilo=1,000 and that it's 1,000 meters, if you can imagine that in your head. Thre's no odd '5,283' to think of...
It's easier becuse you know EVERYTHING collectively not just each length/dimension individually-- because it all interconverts and has again the same prefixes. You know one prefix you know them all.
Try pounds to stone in your head right away-- I'd have to look it up because I DONT have that memorized.

Answer 8

Truthfully, the average American could not name the correspondance between those things right offthe top of their head. And honestly, we don't need to have that information handy because we don't use the metric system in the US. It is taught in public schools, but no one internalizes it. If we travel out of the country, we can take a little chart with us if we need to, but otherwise, it's not necessary to have the info.

Answer 9

An ordinary American doesn't know these conversion factors...because they don't need to.

But I do..because I am not ordinary...hehehe.

I am a math major with an option in physics so I better know how fast is 3 meters per second and that water boils at 100 degree centigrade.

Answer 10

As a Brit I can do the conversion, however I still think in Imperial so have to convert everything to French measure for use in shops. However the conversion in the US will be different for fluid measure as their pints and gallons are smaller.

Answer 11

Why do you care?? I for one don't and I still remember my first grade teacher telling me in 1971 all about the wonderful new metric system...woohooo...and here we are in 2006 and we still don't want to use it.

Why is that such a problem? It is like trying to make Americans like Soccer.

Leave us alone already. We love our inches, our feet, our wonderful pounds and of course our endless American miles!!!