So my palms quickly gave a nice measurement. The digit was the smallest basic unit being the breadth of a finger. Although we might think there is an inescapable logic in dividing it in a systematic manner this ignores the way that measuring grew up with people measuring shorter lengths using other parts of the human body. Women dont have hoo hoo dillies so they cant measure things using one. The width of your palm is about 4 inches. When you need an approximate idea of length you have a handy dandy ruler always nearby.

Many have similar size for example hand and palm so you can just choose ones you prefer perhaps ones with numbers easier to remember. Feet are not equal 2. Standard units ensure consistent equal measuring 3. Say we are using hands as a measure. What an interesting post. Many body distances can be used as measures but you dont need all of them.

What is the advantage of metric units. The si units system simply uses the meter and units derived from that kilometer nanometer etc. The sizes of different peopleõs body parts ie. 10 responses to body parts as tools of measurement chris on january 21 2009 136 am. These units are thus considered to be human scale and anthropocentric. Devin johnston on january 21 2009 259 am.

Many real life math problems dont require exact solutions or precise calculations. How does si address the problem of using body parts as a unit of measurement. Yes your body and its various parts can serve as a quick length estimator. What is the problem with using parts of the body as a unit of measurement. Various lengths have been derived from body dimensions hands feet spans cubits and the like. Calibrating yourself a first step is to choose your measures and measure your choices.

Very easily by not using them. What is the problem with using parts of the body as a unit of measurement. Another measurement that i use is an inch made by bending my ring finger into a tabletop shape. It does not include derived units further unless they are also themselves human based. This is a list of units of measure based on human body parts or the attributes or abilities of humans. My hoo hoo dilly is bigger than yours and we dont have a standard hoo hoo dilly size.

Related to the last point the french word for inch is pouce which also. One individuals hand will likely not be the same as another persons hands therefore if we were building a wall 50 hands tall the actual sizes of the wall would be different. Thus if we were to use body parts as a standard of measurement the idea of standard measurement wouldnt exist. Why were customary or standard units established.

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