[ltp] Re: [OT] Celsius vs centigrade

[James Knott]

Richard Neill wrote:
> James Knott wrote:
>   
>> Marcin Trybus wrote:
>>     
>>> The angle measurement you mention (grad) is just as stupid, as the pi
>>> number equal to 3.2, that was about to be used in the American state of
>>> Indiana 111 years ago.
>>>       
>> Pie are squared?  I thought pie are round!  ;-)
>>     
>
> On a slightly more linux-related theme, have you all discovered the
> wonderful "units" CLI program. It can convert from virtually any unit
> into virtually any other (conformable) one.
>
> It's worth pointing out a particular gotcha though, namely in converting
> temperatures. How many degrees fahrenheit is 100 degrees celsius? It is
> *not* 212, but 180 !  Think "interval", rather than "position".
>
>
> You have: 100 degC			#What you think you want
> You want: degF
>         * 180
>         / 0.0055555556
>
> You have: tempC(100)			#What you probably want
> You want: tempF
>         212
>
>   

Quite so.  What gets me are those who think 40 degrees (C or F) is twice 
as warm as 20 degrees.  That is flat out wrong, unless you're referring 
to Kelvin scale and even then, I believe the word degree becomes 
superfluous.  When I hear someone making that mistake, I'm tempted to 
ask them to prove it by converting to the other scale and see if it's 
still double.  But then I come to my senses and realize that if they 
make that sort of error, they're probably not capable of doing the 
conversion.  ;-)



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