Conversions of the metric kind

[kegom]

Just yesterday, I had yet another conversation about conversing meters to feet, which is something EXTREMELY confusing for me, because if I tell American or British people my height in meters, I usually get about three different answers as to how tall I am in feet

Comments

[guingel]

Agh, honey, no! Nonononono!! You're spreading misinformation about both Arashi and math!!

5.77 ft is 69.24 inches. 60 inches is 5 feet. There are TWELVE INCHES in every foot, not TEN, so when you convert meters to feet, you have to actually do the conversion to inches and then figure out what that would be in feet and inches. 5.77 feet is 60 inches plus 9 inches, or 5'9"

1.73m=68.11 in, or 5'8"

1.71m=5'7"

1.68=5'6"

1.66=5'5"

[kegom]

OK, I see your point, didn't think about the fact that it's non-decimal (thanks to that fact that I live in a country where EVERYTHING is decimal - makes you complacent when calculating stuff).

So, doing the maths differently, given that 1 ft = 30.48 cm and 1 inch = 2.54 cm, it would be 5 ft = 152.40 cm and this plus another 21 (more or less) centimeter, which would then be divided through 2.54 which makes it indeed 8.2677 inches, so 5'8'' on the whole.

I'll change it! ^-^ (At least we now know what the problem with some of the conversion sites is - they made the same mistake I did.)

(Though, uhm... I have to admit, I winced at the "honey" bit of your response, because so far, when I've seen an endearment like that used when people were correcting other people on the internet? It was usually meant VERY condescending, in the kind of "oh, poor stupid kid" way. ^^" I know you don't mean it like that, but it still makes me feel a bit stupid.)

[guingel]

I dunno, I see the phrase "Oh, honey, no" but it's always used when a friend is wearing a terrible outfit or something. "Oh, honey, no. Do not wear a beret." sort of thing. But I was very alarmed at the spread of misinformation! Precisely because these conversions are so very confusing and complicated, I can easily see people who read this getting hopelessly confused about converting meters to feet! Math is very important to me. :D

[kegom]

I've quite often seen "honey" or "darling" used by people who were correcting other people during an argument in communities. And usually they essentially said something between "yeah, get your facts straight, honey" and "how about you get out of my fandom now, honey?". They used it to show the people they were arguing with that they they weren't important enough to be taken seriously, like little kids - to the point that I actually remember a moderator once stopping a member from using it, because she was using it while she was belittling newer fans. So because of that it has a more negative conotation to me, when said in such a context (namely that it's meant to show me that I can't be taken seriously), which is why it made me react like I did.

I like math too, so I can understand your alarm. But it was an honest mistake and I'm not above learning from those. ^-^ (And it's nice that you think so many people read my journal that this misinformation might spread. ;P)

[ant_power]

Ah, so that makes me like 5'3"ish, which is shorter than even Ohno!! I'm like a miniature person or something! XP

[kegom]

I'm sure Ohno at least doesn't mind - you'd be someone he wouldn't have to look up to. ;P Though 5'3'' isn't all that small, I think - I know a couple of girls who're about that tall. ^-^

[shadow_phoenix2]

I've been trying for ages now, and I cannot do the maths involved in converting heights! I'm 160cm tall!

Why are there TWELVE inches per foot!? What nutjob decided TWELVE was a useful number!?

[kegom]

Why are there TWELVE inches per foot!? What nutjob decided TWELVE was a useful number!?

Well, it's better than it was before, at least? ^^" In ancient times, one foot used to be divided into 16 inches, instead of twelve, which in today's world would be something around 1.9 centimeter... (They changed it in medieval ages, because the highly religious middle ages tended to put everything into a system of twelve - so I guess the nutjob responsible in this case would be people influenced by the church. XD)

I find it confusing as well, but I've discovered that it gets a bit easier when you remember that most people tend to be something around five feet plus something, and that five feet is 152 centimeter, and one inch very roughly 2.5 centimeters. Then you just have to do the maths with the centimeters remaining after you've subtracted the 152 cm from your height (which are eight centimeters in your case, which divided by 2.5 would be around three, so according to my calculations your height would be 5'3'').

[trivialaffair]

wow, they are that short? i've never thought to check their heights hahahah, but wow. they're quite small. i'm 5'4". interesting :D

[kegom]

They are! XD (This never fails to amuse me.)
And it's interesting how close they are in terms of height - if you take their official heights, they're "like organ pipes" would be the German expression for it, each one exactly one inch taller than the one before him. (You'd fit right in. ;P)

[trivialaffair]

Hahahaha I'd be part of organ pipes. Yay :D

[bf_nightingale]

...mostly because they're the only ones whose height in meters I know right off the top of my head
Und ich dachte ich sei obsessiv mit meinen Lieblingscharas.xD (Sorry, ich mache mich nicht über dich lustig, aber da musste ich trotzdem laut lachen.^^; Gut, dass ich meinen Kaffee etwa zehn Sekunden früher ausgetrunken hatte)

Und argh, Umrechnungen von Größen. Ich suche dafür jedesmal eine Seite die das für mich umrechnet, aber das ist auch schon ein Abenteuer für sich, so simpel ich mir das naiverweise anfangs auch vorgestellt hatte. -.- (O-Ton: Argh, warum zeigt diese Tabelle hier keine Inches an, und wo soll ich jetzt meine Zentimeter eingeben, und wenn ich hier feet und inches habe, wo und wie gebe ich die jetzt ein undverdammmich warum rechnet mir die plöde Maschine jedesmal etwas anderes aus???)

[kegom]

Oh, keine Angst, Nightie, du hast jedes Recht, dich über mich lustig zu machen! XD

[bf_nightingale]

Ich... befürchte ich kann dir leider nicht helfen das zu beantworten, da ich nicht unbedingt dafür bekannt bin viel Liebe für Retorten-Boybands aufzubringen, tut mir Leid.:-\ (Aber wenn du mir ein Essay darüber schreiben willst, was genau dich daran faszininiert, immer her damit, ich bin schließlich wirklich neugierig!:D)
Regenbogen?

Na toll, dass manche Leute einen Fehler beim Programmieren machen, das kann den Besten passieren. Aber das da draußen unzählige fehlerhafte Programme frei rumrechnen, das schockiert mich jetzt schon.Oo Ich meine, wissen die Leute denn nicht was sie tun, wenn sie denn schon auf die Idee kommen so etwas nützliches zu erstellen? Warum kann sich die Welt nicht endlich auf ein System einigen, wir haben immerhin auch keine Probleme uns auf Jahresdaten zu einigen, oder?-.-Öhm, eigentlich habe ich gerade Ferien...;>_> Aber abgesehen davon, ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, was ich antworten soll. Anstrengend ist hier eigentlich bisher nichts, obwohl ich jetzt wieder ernsthaft anfangen werde für den Japanese