Why imperial measures are best left behind
SIR – Clive Green (Letters, May 9) wants to bring back imperial measures. I don’t think the millions who have been taught the metric system would thank him.
I am 74 and have worked in metric managing a farm since the late 1970s. I can assure Mr Green that trying to do it in imperial would have been a nightmare: I know because that’s how we used to do it.
Agricultural chemicals applied at ml/ha are much easier to deal with, especially when a high percentage of products are imported.
Bill Harbour
Faversham, Kent
SIR – Mr Green is correct about the advantages of restoring imperial measurements.
The abandonment of twelfths, sixteenths, eights and – most importantly – thirds for a system that favours just multiples of 10 has resulted directly in the barren brutalism that now passes for architecture.
Bob Stebbings
Chorleywood, Hertfordshire
SIR – Mr Green is wrong to call for the return of Fahrenheit for weather forecasts and the use of stones and pounds in doctors’ surgeries.
Neither is an SI unit and so neither should be used to covey scientific information. In particular, when calculating drug doses, doctors use mg/kg. Pharmaceutical companies give the information in that format; conversion is time-consuming and increases the risk of errors.
If Mr Green wants to know his weight in stones and pounds, he can always buy a set of scales and set the units accordingly. As for the weather, I suggest he uses the Met Office app, which offers a choice of units.
Dr P S Turnbull
Alverstoke, Hampshire
SIR – I was taught domestic science for two years at school and weighed everything in pounds and ounces. I still do so, much to my husband’s annoyance. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Jacqueline Davies Faversham, Kent