Why Fahrenheit?

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:46pm

Farenheit confuses me. Why do Americans still use Farenheit, when it's so archaic?

Celsius is so much easier...I mean water boils at 100, freezes at zero.

What are some good formulae for changing Celsius to Fahrenheit. I always double and add thirty, but it doesn't work for below freezing, or for anything above like 30 celsius...
Updated On: 11/24/05 at 02:46 PM

[Allie]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:52pm

I use Google. Math is not my friend. I just typed "7 celsius to fahrenheit" into the box, and got "7 degrees Celsius = 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit" as an answer.

I'm in Canada, and fahrenheit just confuses me. My mom knows both, and my grandparents still use fahrenheit.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:03pm

My formula works a little:

7 + 7 = 14
14 + 30 = 44

A 0.6 margin of error.

8 with my method goes to 46, 0.4 behind the real version.

10 is exactly right.

As you go higher, my formula becomes more and more wrong... Updated On: 11/24/05 at 03:03 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:07pm

Well, it's Fahrenheit, first of all. :) And we in the U.S. still use it because we're forever stuck with the quaint English system of measurement.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:08pm

How big is a yard?

Why do Americans write the days and months around the wrong way? It's DD/MM/YYYY, NOT MM/DD/YYYY.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:10pm

Thanks Plum.

How would I know?

My idea is, if the English gave up their system, there must have been some problems...

ETA: I give up. I can't spell this language any more. Od tego momentu, pisze po polsku. Dobrze? Updated On: 11/24/05 at 03:10 PM

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:12pm

America is stubborn. End of story.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:16pm

And what the #@$% is a nickel? And a dime?

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:20pm

A nickle is a 5 cent piece and a dime is 10 cent piece.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:22pm

I was once asked by some of my Polish students to help me with some English work they had to do.

It was all about nickels and dimes, and I had no idea how to help them...

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:29pm

Would "Celsius 11/9" have been more successful?

[Allie]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:36pm

Then you come to Canada and get the loonies and toonies, too!

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:41pm

I just asked my Canadian roommate about nickels, and she told me about them. (loonies and toonies)

Why can't the be like they are in Australia? No special names!

five cents, ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, one dollar, two dollars.

The end.

How simple is that?
Updated On: 11/24/05 at 03:41 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:27pm

And a yard is about the same length as a meter. Just for future reference.

And mister, plenty of countries give their monetary units funny names. That's not a measurement thing at all. At least we use a decimal system.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:32pm

You use a decimal system when it suits you...

And all of the weird names for other currencies usually occur when the units are not dollars and cents.

It just annoys me, because so many math texts and english teaching aids use all these nickels, pennies, shillings, dimes, loonies...things. And as an english teacher, most of the time I have no idea how to help them...

Don't even get me started on the English Monetary System...

[Glebb]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:38pm

Sounds like a good history lesson to me.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:45pm

And do Americans really write meter?

Plum, that's the first time I've ever noticed it on this board...

[Plum]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:52pm

Shillings aren't used in England anymore. (Thank goodness). They have a simple pound/pence decimal system like dollars/cents. And loonies are just Canadian dollars. :P

Um...Americans usually only use meters in an athletic context as far as I remember. Like for track and field measurements. But I know a meter is about the same length as a yard because yardsticks, which are rulers that are a yard long, have a meter on the other side.

[Allie]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:57pm

You mean metre, right, Plum?

[Plum]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:13pm

Man, I am not switching to Brit spelling here, only to switch back when I get home. Too much trouble. I consider myself a fairly good speller, but I have my limits.

[Allie]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:25pm

I'm only teasing!

[andyf]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:52pm

To go from Celsius to Fahrenheit you mulitply the number by 9/5 and then add 32.


To go from Fahrenheit to Celsius, you just do the opposite, i.e., subtract 32 and divide by 9/5 (not to be confused with multiplying a number by 5/9).

[Plum]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:56pm

Allie, I actually had a royal freakout after I handed in my first paper here, wondering if I'd get graded lower because of my Americanisms. Especially because I'm taking 2 theater/theatre classes. Oy.

So it's a bit of a touchy subject.

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:58pm

And since I am hopeless at multiplying/dividing with decimals I'll stick to good old farenheit...

[Mythus]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 8:04pm

I don't see why America is wrong just because it's different. Not that I don't agree - metric is much easier than American standard. But that doesn't make us wrong.