• @[email protected]
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      313 months ago

      But the imperial system is so convenient, you just use fractions instead of decimals…

      /s, because well, this is the internet.

    • @[email protected]
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      3 months ago

      The measurements in parentheses are millimeters (or close enough), so it looks like a shitty conversion from a non-US manufacturer that doesn’t use imperial.

      36" is 914.4mm, so that’s what I’m basing this off of.

      • @[email protected]
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        3 months ago

        Yeah, I reckon somebody told the drafter Americans use inches and fractions and they did not clarify any more than that.

        Our system is antiquated and kind of unwieldy, but it is a system. Power of two denominators for most things, which comes from a practice of just dividing shit in half, and decimal inches for surveyors and machinists.

    • @[email protected]
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      3 months ago

      In the US trades, every measurement is expressed in ft/in, with fractions by 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 as they’re expressed on a standard US tape measure. No one uses 5ths, 10ths, 3rds, etc.

      • Eager Eagle
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        213 months ago

        frankly, using predetermined denominators only seems marginally better to me

        it makes me wonder who decided that 32 3/8 in was more readable than 32.375 in

      • @[email protected]
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        53 months ago

        To be fair 10ths are a thing in surveying. And occasionally engineering I guess but I’ve never seen it.

        I want a ruler in 3rds just to mess with people now though.

        • @Peppycito
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          23 months ago

          There’s a 12ths scale on a carpenters square. Used mostly for roofs I believe.

    • @[email protected]
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      93 months ago

      When dealing with fractions of an inch, measuring devices ALWAYS use base 2 denominators (1/2 inches, 1/4 inches, 1/8 inches, 1/16 inches). They actually have ticks on the tape measure to represent those values. By convention, measurements are as well written down using that same principle.

      It’s so ubiquitous, that people fall apart if it’s deviated from.

      Also, from a practical perspective, there won’t be an explicit mark on a tape measure for any of those measurements, so they’d need to kinda fudge that if they wanted to take a more precise measurement with a standard tape measure.

      In Canada at least, it’s pretty common for a tape measure to have metric and imperial units. Not sure if that’s the same on the US. In this situation, I’d just use the metric. And for any of the highlighted measurements, I don’t think I’d be to stressed out about if I mismeasured by a 16th of an inch anyways.

      • @[email protected]
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        73 months ago

        I’m in New Zealand, we exclusively use millimeters for work like this, and I’m so glad we do.

        What a mess.

      • @steersman2484
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        3 months ago

        How would you then represent 1/3 inches? ~5/16?

        • @Peppycito
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          13 months ago

          I guess you’d use decimal inches and call it 0.3333333

          • @steersman2484
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            3 months ago

            Or you could do 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 … or 1/(2^n) and sum that for n=2 to infinity

    • @[email protected]OP
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      63 months ago

      The fractions don’t correlate to known measurement increments. It’s nonsense typed up by someone unfamiliar with appliance specifications.

    • @Aurenkin
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      13 months ago

      Did you ever read the works of Shan Yu?

  • Meeech
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    3 months ago

    I received a drawing a few months ago that had the following dimensions called out: 1/8", 2/8", 3/8", and 1/2". This one hits a little too close to home.

    • @Peppycito
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      23 months ago

      It’s usually the apprentice that gets sent to find the 4/8" wrench.

      • Meeech
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        23 months ago

        Don’t forget the left handed screw driver!