this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
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We're taught both metric and US customary units in school. I prefer metric for most things, to the point I have a metric-only tape measure among other things.

However, I'll die on the hill that Fahrenheit is superior for ambient air temperature. 0 degrees to 100 degrees neatly encompasses the range of average surface temperatures seen throughout the year in the contiguous US.

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[–] warm@kbin.earth 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It doesn't? Nobody needs the accuracy of 3 digits to tell the temperature, a 1°C change is just about perceivable to us. So having more of a scale is irrelevant, we dont generally use decimals in weather reports because it's not needed (and if you do want more, then having 3 digits is literally a non-issue).

You also use a sign for negatives in Farenheit when it gets that cold and you use 3 numbers when it gets that hot. This is the first time I've ever heard this argument for Farenheit aha, it's like clutching at straws.

Basing Celsius around water, something we all come into contact to, which we freeze and boil all the time. Is not really an "arbitrary" scale. Farenheit was based on a solution of brine for 0 and then a rough estimate of human body temperature for 100, two things not even related.

You wouldn't like Kelvin, that uses 3 numbers.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I never seen a sign or a third digit on a Fahrenheit thermostat. Every time I set my car to metric it adds a tenths digit because Celsius degrees are too coarse.

[–] cepelinas@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What car is that, I am european and I haven't seen even a single time a car show anything in tenths of a degree and besides how the fuck is a thermostat going to get that precise without being a lab one or for a small space.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Several BMWs and a Volvo. They increment by half degrees C. Or one degree Fahrenheit.

[–] cepelinas@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 week ago

I have seen a ford, two mazdas, two opels and a renault that doesn't increment in tenths.