Why are there 5280 feet in a mile? (2009)
People talk about the Metric system, but if we didn&#x27;t have 10 fingers and if we went with a Base 12 system from the dawn of time, we would have something <i>much</i> better than the Metric system.<p>The duodecimal system is unique to the fact that the number 12 has more divisible factors than anything else that&#x27;s manageable to count.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Duodecimal" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Duodecimal</a><p>Inches&#x2F;Feet are based on Duodecimal system, but since we use Arabic numerals (base 10), it&#x27;s obvious why inches&#x2F;feet aren&#x27;t the way to go and why Metric system wins.<p>There are still things that the rest of the world use Base 12 for - hours&#x2F;minutes&#x2F;seconds, 360 degrees, point font units, etc.<p>The reason why America hasn&#x27;t adopted Metric system despite of it being the official system in the law is the same reason why the rest of the world hasn&#x27;t gotten around to changing time&#x2F;degrees into a decimal equivalent. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to turn the ship, the US being a giant ship to turn. America also leads in determining standards for Metric system around the world - NIST with collaboration from European counterparts work together to establish these standards. Universities in US, semiconductor industry, medical industry, etc. use metric units. Engineers in the US <i>know</i> and use the metric system.<p>If we didn&#x27;t have Arabic numerals in Base 10, the American system is better :) *<p>But since we are all stuck with arabic numerals, the Metric system is better!<p>Edit: * I realized that its not that simple. Conceding this point, see responses. I was under the impression that most US units were consistent with base 12, but they&#x27;re not - 1 lb = 16 oz (not 12) for example. A base 12 metric system would be ideal.