2006-08-23 14:52:47 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Well, if I told you to drive up the road a bit to find a hospital wouldn't you like to know if "a bit" is 100 feet, a hundred yards, or a hundred miles? Sure would make a differnce if you wear bleeding!
2006-08-23 14:59:14 · answer #1 · answered by tsopolly 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Methods of measurement make it very convenient to convey one's description of some quantity to another person. Without a standardized measuring scale an inch could be an inch to one person and a mile to someone else depending on where they come from. The actual base unit size for any scale is arbitrary, although it is usually based on some natural phenomena or common object. Just today at lunch one of my friends brought this subject up and asked why people in England use "stones" when it is so "imprecise" as compared to "pounds" or "kilograms". I explained that it is probably a vestige of some historical/local scale that maintained it's popularity in everyday speech. Although there is an actual conversion factor for stones to pounds to kilograms, I believe "stones" is more commonly used in discourse rather than scientific study. Although stones are heavier than pounds per unit, most people are happy to round figures. Just how much we round a quantity is up to the people.
2006-08-23 15:20:57 · answer #2 · answered by narcissisticguy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
so ..what I call an inch is uniform to anyone else.... that by convention, we can agree to use STANDARD measurements without variations... this makes SCIENCE easier to communicate from one scientist to another... that we can test someone Else's theory with measurements already agreed upon
2006-08-23 15:06:59 · answer #3 · answered by Brian D 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So one can pecisely figure out how how far away or how big or small something is.
2006-08-23 14:57:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Without them we cannot easily comprehend comparisons.
2006-08-23 15:00:39 · answer #5 · answered by Archangel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋