Conversion Of Inches To Centimetres.

[solvitquick]

How thick can I get. My "science" reference book gives just 2.54 cm to the inch. This disagrees with my tape measure and I mustme using my new calculator as this gives a different answer.
Time is of the essence tonight so here I am at the font of all knowledge.
Thanks in advance friends,
SIQ.

[jim360]

Well that's what it should be, so ... what does your tape measure/ calculator give?

[factor-fiction]

2.54 is correct

[Buenchico]

1" = 2.54cm had better be correct or else I've made a hell of a lot of errors over the past half century!

[Psybbo]

http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/inches-to-centimeters-table.htm

[aelmpvw]

you have a tape measure that shows hundredths of a centimetre?

[solvitquick]

Yup folks I have used 2.54 all my life. My errors started to occur as I have been hurriedly doing various calculations in feet and inches for a planning permission doc for submission tomorrow. My tape measure gives 2.5 and a bit on the inch scale. I suddenly begin to think I've been using 2.40 accidentally in my DOUBLE-CHECK!
Thanks gang. No boasting but to let you all mock me but I've got a PhD in science (pmsl) but was over-anxious over getting the planning permission document right.
For his speed, best answer to jim360.
Back to re-check figures again now.
Humiliated again by brain-failure.
SIQ.

[solvitquick]

P.S. I thought I had been missing a third decimal place all my life! That's what panic can do. Thanks again gang.
SIQ.

[Old_Geezer]

I think you need to mark a best answer rather than express an opinion :-)

Hmmmm.... my brain seems to fail evry five minutes these days. So frustrating.

[Old_Geezer]

Ah that'll be typical, I get interrupted mid post and by the time I get back to finish ...

[jim360]

Time was when I used 1m = 39.37 inches to work out that 2.54000508 cm = 1in. Problem with that was that the 39.37 is the one that's rounded. True story. Though not that interesting.

1m = 39.3700787 in exactly, according to google. But what do they know?

[solvitquick]

Yup folks all initial conversions were correct. My double-check was crazy must have used 2.50, 2.45 or some other re-invented conversion factor.
Luv,
SIQ.

[gingejbee]

I've got to ask - why the Imperial measurements in the first place?

[solvitquick]

Dear gingejbee,
Wow you're a stirrer! Not sure of your point though. Are you saying imperial measures should be totally done-away with?
In my case of plannning permission I want no nonsensical come-backs so have given all distances in imperial and metric.
But abolition of imperial is not happening in Britain or the USA.
Sure weights and measures in imperial are illegal in sales outlets. But it's more complicated than simply laying down the law, in fact it's impossible for decades, if ever, to go to total metric! If I asked you how far it is from your home to the nearest town, I bet you would answer in miles, not kilometres. 'Cos your cars clock reads miles. The DVLC use the mile - see your MOT. Roads and higways are signposted in miles as are the speed limit signs. The police charge you for speeding according to mph.
Unlike decimalisation, conversions to metric can't be done by mental arithmatic because of the multiple decimal points involved.
When I worked in a lab we used only metric weights. But schizophrenically, as soon as I got home I became an "imperialist". So I still buy 1 or 2 lbs of sugar (in my mind), judging it by size not by calculating the gram weights.
Worth a new thread if you want to cause AB mayhem.
Regards,
SIQ.

[solvitquick]

Dear Old-Geezer,
While I'm on AB, I did not choose best answer because jim agreed with me or my comments. He was right and fastest to reply.
I do envy you your name OG - wish I'd chosen it first! It would suit me down to the ground.
Regards,
SIQ.

[gingejbee]

Thank you, SIQ: my question was not meant to stir anything or anybody!
In your position, I would have measured and submitted metrically - because that's what the planning department works in, presumably. Anything for a simple life, me!
Incidentally, I am as metrically inclined as it's possible to be, having used the system from age 11 in grammar school and throughout my working life as a "scientist".
(And I'd be happy if my car's mileometer was a kilometreometer!)

[solvitquick]

Dear gingejbee,
Ty for answer. Very interesting and amusing. Hope your friends and relatives can always understand you outside of athletics.
Finally, I hope, I would like to see fahrenheit outlawed on max/min and other thermometers. Causes friction with me and my female partner when she tells me the conservatory figures. I can only think in terms of centigrade/celsius. I dont know what blood temperature is in fahrenheit although the conversion is easy to work out but don't care.
Wonder why he chose that scale - probably been on QI.
Regards
SIQ.

[boxtops]

I still sew in inches - my seam allowance wouldn't be the same in metric!

[jim360]

I'm "metrically inclined" as well -- much easier to work with. On the other hand I enjoy being able to work with both systems, which is handy whenever my mum needs help with a recipe, and because apparently the US still haven't caught up with SI units.

[beckersjay]

www.inches-to-cm.com/‎