Because all the conversion factors are decimal and we are
used to using decimals. The other feature is that the metric system has some unit
conversion defined, a cubic centemeter of pure water at a certain temperature masses 1
gram, so if you had a very good metric ruler you could create other
measurements.
You still may need a dictionary because the
prefixes (for example pico) are in latin. The units, for example, newtons which measure
weight, although kilograms are used generally (in error), can be just as confusing as
feet, inch, and yard. The one nice thing is that you can have a third of a foot (4
inches) but a third of a meter is a repeating decimal in the metric system. In fact any
division by numbers not powers or products of 2 and 5 are repeating decimals in the
metric system. It was too bad that when they created the metric system, based on
science rather than human measurements, they did not use another base, like 12, which
would have made the system more useable. Ten fingers is just as arbitrary as the width
of the kings foot.
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