Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 08:03:52 -0400

Author: Angela Plagemann

Subject: RE: units of measurement

Post:

Hi all,

> So the problem IS that when all odometers become metric, all the hard work
> that the county did to create the roads in a logical grid becomes useless.
> You odometer gives you precise information to find your way around the
> county. But if it reads in km, it's almost useless.

As a Canadian, I've always had an odometer in kilometers. I've never had a problem figuring out how far I've gone in the U.S. with my Canadian car. The speedometer is in both kilometers and miles. So, I have a
conversion chart right there on top of the odometer. It's not too hard to figure out how many kilometers there are in a certain number of miles. Besides, how precise do you need to be when you're driving a car in the country? If you make a rough conversion and drive that many kilometers, there's probably only one house in sight when you get there...

Angela

==========================
Angela Plagemann
Physics Demonstration Lab
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 936-2498