English 102

          One-twelfth, one, three, five thousand two hundred eighty, and six thousand eighty. What do these numbers have in common with one another? Even a professor in mathematics might be hard-pressed to relate these numbers when asked, but what if there was a different set of numbers? Take, for example, the following numbers: one one-hundredth, one, ten, one hundred, one thousand. These numbers are much easier to relate; they’re all related by powers, or exponents, of ten. Moving between these numbers is as easy as moving a decimal. The first set of numbers was a list of the values, in feet, of the most common units of measurement in the Standard System of Measurement ranging from inches to nautical miles. The second set of numbers was a list of values, in meters, of some commonly used measurements in the International System of Units (SI). Of these two systems, the Standard system is the most commonly used in America despite its seemingly random unit choices. The SI should be adopted as America’s official system of measurement because units and standards of measurement would be more rational, public understanding of scientific data would be made more thorough, and international interactions of measurements would be made simpler.