Allegro.cc - Online Community

Allegro.cc Forums » Off-Topic Ordeals » Average height of allegro members in cm

This thread is locked; no one can reply to it. rss feed Print
Average height of allegro members in cm
bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

X-G said:

Now you're being inconsistent. First you said mass is measured in kilograms, and then that it's measured in pounds? Make up your mind. I'm assuming here that you mean "mass" all along, because weight is measured in Newtons anyhow, neither pounds nor kilograms. Maybe we should just add "mind-shattering inconsistency" to the nails in the imperial coffin...

No, I said that in Canada it's common for mass to be measured in grams (Kilograms, etc.; i.e. metric), however, weight is most often measured in pounds (i.e. imperial). There is a very big difference between mass and weight as well as Kilograms and pounds. Mass is a measure of matter (theoretically, I think it's correct to say energy as well). Weight is a measure of the gravitational force acting on an object. On the surface of the Earth, the gravitational field is relatively constant (or close enough to it to have little effect) so mass tends to be directly proportional to weight.

I specifically said that mass was measured in grams (Kilograms, etc.; using the metric system) and weight was measured in pounds (using the imperial system) and meant it. When you stand on a scale you are measuring weight, not mass (although the mass can be derived from the weight if you know the gravitational force acting on the object).

X-G said:

But really, the main problem with imperial distance units is that you can't divide or multiply them intuitively unless you want to just give up and only use the smallest one for everything. 12 inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile... eurghh. And don't even try to get into measuring sub-inch distances. That just gets evil.

This is only a problem where you need to convert. Metric is a nicer system for serious studies where you need to pass inputs around a system. However, in the context of measuring one's height, imperial is perfectly suitable (especially for those of us used to it) because we aren't converting to anything. We know what an inch and a foot are and it's no trouble visualizing a person's height in feet and inches.

It's true that metric is nicer for serious study, but accuracy isn't important here (and 99% of our measurements are incorrect anyway) so the imperial system works fine. Back in elementary school I preferred metric, but after learning imperial I usually prefer it (unless I'm doing serious calculations and conversions). However, it is still possible to be just as accurate with imperial measurements.

You also don't actually have to say 1 1/2 inches. You can still say 1.5 inches. Somebody could also say 1 1/2 centimeters if they wished. It's just that for common tasks like home construction, etc., the part units are often constant and fraction math is probably easier than floating point math. My father can calculate imperial math really fast in his head. It takes me a bit longer because I don't use it often (the only units I come across often are bytes, etc., or horsepower/torque which don't need conversion).

X-G
Member #856
December 2000
avatar

Quote:

No, I said that in Canada it's common for mass to be measured in grams (Kilograms, etc.; i.e. metric), however, weight is most often measured in pounds (i.e. imperial). There is a very big difference between mass and weight as well as Kilograms and pounds. Mass is a measure of matter (theoretically, I think it's correct to say energy as well). Weight is a measure of the gravitational force acting on an object. On the surface of the Earth, the gravitational field is relatively constant (or close enough to it to have little effect) so mass tends to be directly proportional to weight.

Except you can't both have a "pound" be a unit of weight and of mass, as weight is force, not mass. Now, as it happens, there is a force equivalent called a pound-force, abbreviated lbf. But, that's not what you said. You used pounds, lbs; which is a measurement of mass, not of weight.

And, really, no one pretends that they are talking about pound-force when weighing themselves; it's mass, through and through. A scale may measure weight, but the display still shows mass. (Or did you really think that here in Europe, our scales show you the result in Newtons, the SI unit for force? No, it converts it to kilograms, the unit for mass.)

So, you have two choices. Either you immediately stop referring to "pounds" as a measurement of weight and use the SI unit for force - the Newton - or use the imperial unit - the pound-force, or you admit that you're deliberately contradicting yourself.

Now, knowing you've got about the brain capacity of an inbred snail, my bet is that you will instead choose C: Rant about like an idiot about stuff you don't understand.

--
Since 2008-Jun-18, democracy in Sweden is dead. | 悪霊退散!悪霊退散!怨霊、物の怪、困った時は ドーマン!セーマン!ドーマン!セーマン! 直ぐに呼びましょう陰陽師レッツゴー!

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

Pound (mass) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia said:

The pound (abbreviations: lb or, sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of weight in a number of different systems, including various systems of units of weight that formed part of English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units.

...

In many contexts, the term "pound" refers unambiguously to a unit of mass. However, in some contexts, by convention, the "pound" may be defined to refer to a unit of force.

- Source

People keeping track of their "weight" are actually keeping track of their mass (indirectly). It's unimportant how much force gravity is pushing on you with. Instead, people are interested in how "heavy" they are or how much matter they are made of. The only way I know to measure mass is with a balance-like contraption. Otherwise, we generally are measuring weight which is measured in pounds (at least in North America) regardless of the underlying meaning of the measurement.

I see what you're saying by the title of the article, but I've always been taught that pounds are measuring the force of gravity. That article seems to both support and contradict that. I think the term "pound-force" might be the "correct" terminology and in general use people just say "pound" because there is no ambiguity about the intended meaning.

X-G said:

And, really, no one pretends that they are talking about pound-force when weighing themselves; it's mass, through and through. A scale may measure weight, but the display still shows mass. (Or did you really think that here in Europe, our scales show you the result in Newtons, the SI unit for force? No, it converts it to kilograms, the unit for mass.)

Most scales in Canada and America show us the measurement in pounds (lbs).

*UPDATE*

X-G said:

So, you have two choices. Either you immediately stop referring to "pounds" as a measurement of weight and use the SI unit for force - the Newton - or use the imperial unit - the pound-force, or you admit that you're deliberately contradicting yourself.

Or you'll what!? >:(

Quote:

pound2
–noun, plural pounds, (collectively) pound.

1.	a unit of weight and of mass, varying in different periods and countries.

The meaning is relative to the time and place. More than likely, we're both right relative to when and where.

Indeterminatus
Member #737
November 2000
avatar

Oh come on guys, let go off it already.

_______________________________
Indeterminatus. [Atomic Butcher]
si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses

Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
avatar

But it's so fun to watch.

Johan Halmén
Member #1,550
September 2001

Quote:

You also don't actually have to say 1 1/2 inches. You can still say 1.5 inches.

But you can't say 1.5 if it is 1.4! The .5 has no meaning, when rounding. In metrics, you use precisions with 0, 1, 2, 3 etc decimals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years of thorough research have revealed that the red "x" that closes a window, really isn't red, but white on red background.

Years of thorough research have revealed that what people find beautiful about the Mandelbrot set is not the set itself, but all the rest.

Goalie Ca
Member #2,579
July 2002
avatar

bamccaig, ya most people refer to their own weight in lbs (apparently britains use stone) but weight for most things is still measured in kilos here. When i was working on the port it was all kilo's, at the grocery store it's all kilos, etc. My drivers license even shows height and weight in metric and doesn't show imperial.

anyways, my last post in this thread which has totally disintegrated.

-------------
Bah weep granah weep nini bong!

Neil Walker
Member #210
April 2000
avatar

matt smith said:

185. I think it's strange how narrow a range

Not really, it's well known the majority of clever people are tall, and this group is predominantly for clever people. Short, stupid and poor people usually hang around the SDL mailing list ;)

Neil.
MAME Cabinet Blog / AXL LIBRARY (a games framework) / AXL Documentation and Tutorial

wii:0356-1384-6687-2022, kart:3308-4806-6002. XBOX:chucklepie

Rampage
Member #3,035
December 2002
avatar

Quote:

But it's so fun to watch.

Yeah, it's amazing how bamccaig can produce a heated argument in every thread he participates.

-R

Jakub Wasilewski
Member #3,653
June 2003
avatar

Quote:

Yeah, it's amazing how bamccaig can produce a heated argument in every thread he participates.

Did you ever notice that he seems to be arguing with himself for the most part?

Anyway, I'm now inclined to create an "Earth is round" thread and see what ensues ;).

---------------------------
[ ChristmasHack! | My games ] :::: One CSS to style them all, One Javascript to script them, / One HTML to bring them all and in the browser bind them / In the Land of Fantasy where Standards mean something.

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
avatar

185.42

--
Visit CLUBCATT.com for cat shirts, cat mugs, puzzles, art and more <-- coupon code ALLEGRO4LIFE at checkout and get $3 off any order of 3 or more items!

AllegroFlareAllegroFlare DocsAllegroFlare GitHub

relpatseht
Member #5,034
September 2004
avatar

Jakub Wasilewski said:

Anyway, I'm now inclined to create an "Earth is round" thread and see what ensues.

That's nonsense. If the Earth was round, how could anyone possibly travel to the South Pole? It is on the verge of common sense that the world is one big plain with people on the edges who knock out and drug anyone who gets too close, then has them transported across to the other side of the Earth as fast as they possibly can, hence why, if you try to travel around the world, the date changes on you. It is all just some big conspiracy so that scientists don't have to admit they were wrong about a "fact" that has become common knowledge and deal with the global chaos that would ensue.

187 centimeters, to stay on topic.

Jakub Wasilewski
Member #3,653
June 2003
avatar

Quote:

That's nonsense. If the Earth was round, how could anyone possibly travel to the South Pole? It is on the verge of common sense that the world is one big plain with people on the edges who knock out and drug anyone who gets too close, then has them transported across to the other side of the Earth as fast as they possibly can, hence why, if you try to travel around the world, the date changes on you. It is all just some big conspiracy so that scientists don't have to admit they were wrong about a "fact" that has become common knowledge and deal with the global chaos that would ensue.

From this, we can also conclude that people on the eastern edge of the world are more technologically advanced than those on the western edge. Why, you ask? Well, of course because they have obviously invented time travel. When they drug you while you're going east, you actually wake up the day before.

---------------------------
[ ChristmasHack! | My games ] :::: One CSS to style them all, One Javascript to script them, / One HTML to bring them all and in the browser bind them / In the Land of Fantasy where Standards mean something.

relpatseht
Member #5,034
September 2004
avatar

No, you have it all wrong, Jakub, the truth is that no one really returns from the East. In the mysterious East, your brain is actually siphoned off for the use of furthering the intelligence of an AI more powerful than even the movies have imagined. A clone is then made of you and sent across the earth back where you came from, but, despite having made the most advanced super computer destined to rule the Earth, they (the infamous and omnipresent they, of course) still can't get the shipping times down, so you arrive a day early.
What are they filling your heads with in these schools nowadays?

Alright, I'm bored of playing bamccaig.

Bob
Free Market Evangelist
September 2000
avatar

175 cm. And clearly, the Earth is a hyperboloid. You can go around it at the equator, but it's virtually impossible to go to the poles and come back on the "other side".

--
- Bob
[ -- All my signature links are 404 -- ]

Paul whoknows
Member #5,081
September 2004
avatar

Albert Einstein 176cm
Bill Gate$ 178cm
I could not find the height of Isaac Newton :-[

____

"The unlimited potential has been replaced by the concrete reality of what I programmed today." - Jordan Mechner.

Ceagon Xylas
Member #5,495
February 2005
avatar

172.7cm

FMC
Member #4,431
March 2004
avatar

But George Washington was 10 foot high! :P

[FMC Studios] - [Caries Field] - [Ctris] - [Pman] - [Chess for allegroites]
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them. -Anacharsis
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain

DanielH
Member #934
January 2001
avatar

182.88

Since we're all computer nerds. Maybe we should look at avg weight. ;D

Actually maybe that's not a good idea. :P

Sevalecan
Member #4,686
June 2004
avatar

Assuming I didn't mess up in my calculations, the average height of the given numbers is: 184.28 centimeters or approximately 6 feet.

TeamTerradactyl: SevalecanDragon: I should shoot you for even CONSIDERING coding like that, but I was ROFLing too hard to stand up. I love it!
My blog about computer nonsense, etc.

gnolam
Member #2,030
March 2002
avatar

HoHo said:

Didn't your physics teacher tell you how to round numbers?

:P

--
Move to the Democratic People's Republic of Vivendi Universal (formerly known as Sweden) - officially democracy- and privacy-free since 2008-06-18!

Paul whoknows
Member #5,081
September 2004
avatar

Quote:

Maybe we should look at avg weight. ;D

Should I open a weight thread?;) what do you think?

____

"The unlimited potential has been replaced by the concrete reality of what I programmed today." - Jordan Mechner.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

Goalie Ca said:

bamccaig, ya most people refer to their own weight in lbs (apparently britains use stone) but weight for most things is still measured in kilos here. When i was working on the port it was all kilo's, at the grocery store it's all kilos, etc. My drivers license even shows height and weight in metric and doesn't show imperial.

That's because metric is the official measurement system in Canada. Any official documentation will use the metric system and most (if not all) formal documentation will use the metric system as well. That doesn't mean Canadian citizens have to use the metric system in their everyday life and in my experience most don't (definitely not exclusively).

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
avatar

150 lbs

--
Visit CLUBCATT.com for cat shirts, cat mugs, puzzles, art and more <-- coupon code ALLEGRO4LIFE at checkout and get $3 off any order of 3 or more items!

AllegroFlareAllegroFlare DocsAllegroFlare GitHub

FMC
Member #4,431
March 2004
avatar

~83kg or ~183lbs or ~2.43*10^(-2)fmcs

[FMC Studios] - [Caries Field] - [Ctris] - [Pman] - [Chess for allegroites]
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them. -Anacharsis
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain



Go to: