Yes, the fractions are exact, but when you need to measure something, you probably won’t have anything marked for 48ths or whatever arbitrary fraction. You still have to make an approximation to use the closest fraction available.
For the seven digit numbers you’re using, the loss of precision is less than one part in a million, which shouldn’t be an issue for cutting planks of wood.
Also, there’s nothing about the metric system that stops you from using fractions.
you probably won’t have anything marked for 48ths or whatever arbitrary fraction
except the fractions aren't just random, that's the nice thing about it being divisible by 12, almost all of the time you do have those markers, so yes, you do have 48ths
In this example we're talking about inches and an inch is not any more divisible by 12 than a centimeter. Generally you're not going to see 48 divisions crammed into an inch on a ruler. You can have a set of specialty yardsticks with divisions set up for dividing by 3, 5, 7 etc. but you could do that with a meter the same way.
The argument was that imperial was better because you could do an exact division and get 6 and 25/48".
25 48ths is 33.333 repeating 64ths. You still have to eyeball a third of a division, the same way you would have had to eyeball half a millimeter.
Yes, the fractions are exact, but when you need to measure something, you probably won’t have anything marked for 48ths or whatever arbitrary fraction. You still have to make an approximation to use the closest fraction available.
For the seven digit numbers you’re using, the loss of precision is less than one part in a million, which shouldn’t be an issue for cutting planks of wood.
Also, there’s nothing about the metric system that stops you from using fractions.
except the fractions aren't just random, that's the nice thing about it being divisible by 12, almost all of the time you do have those markers, so yes, you do have 48ths
In this example we're talking about inches and an inch is not any more divisible by 12 than a centimeter. Generally you're not going to see 48 divisions crammed into an inch on a ruler. You can have a set of specialty yardsticks with divisions set up for dividing by 3, 5, 7 etc. but you could do that with a meter the same way.
Except I have several tape measures with 64ths, they aren't exactly uncommon and you can do 48ths with 64ths
The argument was that imperial was better because you could do an exact division and get 6 and 25/48".
25 48ths is 33.333 repeating 64ths. You still have to eyeball a third of a division, the same way you would have had to eyeball half a millimeter.
you don't have to eyeball it as much though