President Andrew Johnson, who presided over the country in 1866, signed a bill into law that put the country on the metric system. Since its founding in 1903, the US Bureau of Standards has used the metric system. However, Americans are still using the English system at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. It would appear that one would need to carry a calculator to translate everything, from weather information to speed limit signs. But there is a different option. We can mentally convert units like 140 kg to lbs with a little effort. For instance: Temperature: We all know that the standard formula for converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit is F = 9/5 x C + 32, which is a rather difficult mental exercise. The prospect of multiplying the Celsius temperature by 1.8, though still difficult for the average person to mentally perform, seems a little less daunting if we take into account that 9/5 is 18/10, or 1.8. Weight: A pound is defined by the U.S. Bureau o...
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