Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
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smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Online
I was surfing around and happened upon this site where you can convert just about any measure to any other measure: Online Conversion
Basil
Basil
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Useful conversion site
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aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
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Excellent!
Especially the weight/mass section...I forwarded it to Dr. Einstein (yes, that's the name of our resident physicist).
Especially the weight/mass section...I forwarded it to Dr. Einstein (yes, that's the name of our resident physicist).
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OK - rant time!
This is a wonderful tool, but all these shortcuts don't teach anybody anything! Or if they try to, the easy way is always still there. It's a lot like going to the store and seeing that the cashier can't make change without the register telling him or her what to do.
Having said this, I'll confess that I often use the easy way, too!
But it's usually when I don't know how to convert - what the factor is, etc.
This is a wonderful tool, but all these shortcuts don't teach anybody anything! Or if they try to, the easy way is always still there. It's a lot like going to the store and seeing that the cashier can't make change without the register telling him or her what to do.
Having said this, I'll confess that I often use the easy way, too!
OP
Online
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mickey Richaud:
OK - rant time!
This is a wonderful tool, but all these shortcuts don't teach anybody anything! Or if they try to, the easy way is always still there. It's a lot like going to the store and seeing that the cashier can't make change without the register telling him or her what to do.
Having said this, I'll confess that I often use the easy way, too!
But it's usually when I don't know how to convert - what the factor is, etc.<hr></blockquote>
I agree people should learn the basics, but most engineers I know use tables for quick conversions, just as a matter of convenience. Wehn I was in engineering school, I owned a funny thing called a slide rule. My son, who recenlty graduated with a BSEE, and his classmates, have never seen a slide rule.
Basil
PS: Here's another useful site for doing currency conversions
[ 01-23-2004: Message edited by: Basil ]</p>
OK - rant time!
This is a wonderful tool, but all these shortcuts don't teach anybody anything! Or if they try to, the easy way is always still there. It's a lot like going to the store and seeing that the cashier can't make change without the register telling him or her what to do.
Having said this, I'll confess that I often use the easy way, too!
I agree people should learn the basics, but most engineers I know use tables for quick conversions, just as a matter of convenience. Wehn I was in engineering school, I owned a funny thing called a slide rule. My son, who recenlty graduated with a BSEE, and his classmates, have never seen a slide rule.
Basil
PS: Here's another useful site for doing currency conversions
[ 01-23-2004: Message edited by: Basil ]</p>
PC
Obi Wan
Offline
Definitely a fun and useful website.
It does however illustrate why you need to think about what you're doing and not just blindly plug in numbers. It has limitations the user might need to consider.
It says that the results are rounded to 7 decimal places. What it doesn't mention (but you'll notice if you try a few conversions) is that it doesn't do calculations in scientific (exponential) form. That means that if the units you want to convert are more than a few orders of magnitude apart you'll get erroneous answers.
for example it says that:
1 angstrom = 0 smoot.
Is the conversion factor zero? No, it just did the calculation wrong, limiting the number of digits and effectively loosing the real answer.
it also says that:
1 smoot = 1.7018 meter and that 1 meter = 0.5876131 smoot
knowing an angstrom is 1x10e-10 meters you can calculate that:
1 angstrom = 5.876131x10e-11 smoot.
PC.
It does however illustrate why you need to think about what you're doing and not just blindly plug in numbers. It has limitations the user might need to consider.
It says that the results are rounded to 7 decimal places. What it doesn't mention (but you'll notice if you try a few conversions) is that it doesn't do calculations in scientific (exponential) form. That means that if the units you want to convert are more than a few orders of magnitude apart you'll get erroneous answers.
for example it says that:
1 angstrom = 0 smoot.
Is the conversion factor zero? No, it just did the calculation wrong, limiting the number of digits and effectively loosing the real answer.
it also says that:
1 smoot = 1.7018 meter and that 1 meter = 0.5876131 smoot
knowing an angstrom is 1x10e-10 meters you can calculate that:
1 angstrom = 5.876131x10e-11 smoot.
PC.
James in Michigan
Senior Member
Offline
Never realised how much work smoots were....
Basil,
I have a neat little program on my desktop called "convert" that does most of this stuff. I would be happy to send it too you (568KB), however it is an "exe" file extension and alot of virus protection programs dont like these. It emails fine, let me now if it would be of any interest to you and I would be happy to send it along.
I have a neat little program on my desktop called "convert" that does most of this stuff. I would be happy to send it too you (568KB), however it is an "exe" file extension and alot of virus protection programs dont like these. It emails fine, let me now if it would be of any interest to you and I would be happy to send it along.
For anyone who doesn't, the filtering of executable files is easily circumvented. Before you attach one to a message, rename it, changing the extension to something else (I always use .exq). The recipient obviously has to change it back before it will work.
Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50 (San Francisco)
Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50 (San Francisco)