If _base_10 is so intuitive and _base_12 so very counterintuitive, why do the natural counting numbers not use oneteen and twoteen instead of eleven and twelve (or equivalents for other languages)? I suspect that numerate reckoning societies developed _base_-12 and _base_-60 arithmetic for convenience in division, but when the zero symbol was invented, decimal became a viable competitor because you could now go straight from fingers to place-shifting. Different advantages: metric uses a simple multiplier and is related literally to your 'handheld digital computer'; Imperial units (often but not always) can be divided into parts more easily. My hypothesis is that circular measurement requires division most, hence uses a most divisible number - 360 (or clock - 60), and this gets less complex as need for division shrinks. Perhaps you would much less prefer to share your gallon of beer, so no need to divide by 3 so often... *grin* Now that we use calculators and other _base_-10 represented stuff so much more, it is easier to go metric; the tools are now adapted to support the _base_-10 system and are compatible with the biology. (And a kid WITH shoes doesn't count in _base_-12 so much as both decimal and binary - a key advantage... *chuckle*) regds Autolycus

That would be 1:3:5280. And that is no more difficult to memorize than 1:10:1000, it is three numbers vs three numbers. Except with the 10 _base_, you just keep adding on another 0 Oh, God - did I just defend Metric then? <mutter - damn French invention - mutter

In any case, the Arabs weren't medieval.  They never developed a feudal system. Um, are you saying that having a feudal system was a requirement for being medieval?

Bzzt. The metric system is taught in US schools and has been for at least 25 years. To get Americans to use metrics on an everyday basis, you would have to eliminate all references to the current system. Old habits die hard.. We have that over here, too.  All signs are labelled in miles, and most people over the age of 30 can't even picture how long a metre is.  I certainly can't. Funny thing, though.  I can work in millimetres and inches.

That would be 1:3:5280. And that is no more difficult to memorize than 1:10:1000, it is three numbers vs three numbers.         Bah. One/Ten/Thousand is infinitely easier to remember than         One/Three/FiveThousandTwoHundredAndEighty -Michael

Even the government backed down from trying to force pubs to abandon the pint. Argh! Oh, you meant the *measurement*