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OK, listen up rest of the English speaking world!
- Thread starter Jeremiah
- Start date
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The Neo Nerd
Well-Known Member
And it's MATHS that you study at school not Math. Lots of different equations means plurals.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
Oh, how sad. No, no, listen up. It's math. It's a collective. It replaces "arithmetic". You're welcome.
Because it's so much easier to do your calculations using 62.4 pounds per cubic foot of water than it is to do it using 1 kilogram per litre or 1000 kg per cubic metre.
And it just makes intuitive sense for water to freeze at 32 degrees and boil at 212. Zero degrees and a hundred degrees? Who can wrap their head around that?
The most annoying conversion for me, though, is for fuel consumption. Of course they couldn't make it a simple coefficient... it had to be a function of the inverse. However, I think the two units give a glimpse into the mindset behind them:
- L/100 km: "I've got to go this far. How much gas do I need to do it?"
- mpg: "I've got this much gas. How far can I go?!"
Yeah, but even though Mohr's Circle is annoying, it's useful. I don't hold that against the Germans.
And that's how it always works: quantities imply plurals.
So we can use maths like geometries to estimate how many gravels are in a stockpile, or maths like calculuses to figure out the heats loss of a house.
monta
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I believe this has killed people in the past, when pilots or ground crew have mixed up the systems and put insufficient fuel in planes
tumbleweed41
Resident Liberal Hippie
The only new word that has popped up in the English language that really grates on me is 'meh'.
What the heck is meh?!? A shoulder shrug? A nasal sound you make to indicate indifference?
I have also seen my daughter use it in texting as a substitute for 'me'.
(Texting will be the death of English written language.)
What the heck is meh?!? A shoulder shrug? A nasal sound you make to indicate indifference?
I have also seen my daughter use it in texting as a substitute for 'me'.
(Texting will be the death of English written language.)
There's a famous Canadian incident like that, though everyone survived (IIRC with no injuries): Gimli Glider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaI believe this has killed people in the past, when pilots or ground crew have mixed up the systems and put insufficient fuel in planes
The plane was one of the first that Air Canada operated using metric fuel readouts. The fuel requisition forms didn't specify the units, so the flight crew did their calculations in kilograms, but the ground crew took the number to be in pounds. The plane was having some sort of issue with its gauges, so the crew disregarded what they said.
About halfway to their destination, they ran out of fuel. The crew discovered that all normal airports were further away than they could get to without power. However,the pilot had served in the Canadian Air Force and remembered the training base at Gimli, Manitoba, which was just within their range, so they headed for that.
Unbeknownst to him, in the years since he left the Air Force, the base had been decommisioned and turned into a race track. When the plane came in for landing, a race was in progress.
I actually know a couple of the race marshals who were there when it happened. One told me that he saw the cars suddenly veered to the side - he looked to see what was going on, and saw a huge but silent jetliner coming in right in the middle of everything.
monta
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The only difference between 'meh' and 'huh' is that it is new to you, slang doesn't kill language and is an inevitablilty in living language, stop being a geezer it'll give you wrinkles
tumbleweed41
Resident Liberal Hippie
Dad-gum whippersnappers!!!The only difference between 'meh' and 'huh' is that it is new to you, slang doesn't kill language and is an inevitablilty in living language, stop being a geezer it'll give you wrinkles
Oh, how sad. No, no, listen up. It's math. It's a collective. It replaces "arithmetic". You're welcome.
No it replaces Mathematics. Arithmetic is a sub set of maths.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
Yes, technically it replaces mathematics, but my point was that if you think of it replacing arithmetic, it makes sense to just say math.
Well if you think that you are wrong. And to be fair who doesn't know it replaces mathematics? Would have to be a bit special to not have worked that one out.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
Says you, and, with all due respect, no one really takes you seriously. (Remember, you can't take offense to that, since I said "With all due respect")
In reality dear sir, do you really think anyone actually cares what you think? I'm sure the fungus growing on your desk has better informed opinions than you. Now if you would kindly admit that you were wrong and that I am, undeniable, better than you in every way we can move on from this.
It's not so much arrogance as it is familiarity. But the metric system has actually been official in the U.S. since 1866 and further established with the U.S. Metric Board in '75, then cemented with the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act in 1988. But the acts are voluntary; the feds have established the metric system but it's the private sector that's reluctant to change based on the cost or just plain obstinance I suppose. But science classes use metric and as a science major I had to learn it- it's widely used here anyway.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
In truth, it would be quite impossible for me to admit that someone who doesn't even know the difference between an adjective and an adverb (undeniably vs. undeniable) is better than I am.
Now, I know that your position as staff has made your head even bigger than it ever was before, but once in a while you simply must take a trip back here to reality. If you do so, you will inevitably find that it is I who is your superior.
In closing, I have only one more question. Do you say "Science class" or "Sciences class"?