Right, in "The Yardstick" it says these white rulers are 1£ each. But it is not entirely clear how I am to pay. Could I merely send you an envelope with a first class stamp affixed, plus 2 pound coins, asking for two of these rulers?



Onto the Yardstick.. I would say that there is some interesting stuff in there. Something that particularly caught my attention, though, in this month's issue, was the section "Falling Standards". This section published some weights and measures questions from a nineteenth centruy US paper designed for 13 year olds, and an early twentieth Century British one for the "11+" exams. Of especial interest and note (at least for me) were the following questions:


"A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and three feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?"

"Find cost of 6,720lb of coal at $6.00 per ton"

&

"A bicycle wheel travels 7'4" for each revolution of the back wheel. If the wheel revolves twice in every second, at what rate in miles per hour is the bicycle travelling"

Better to use a cheque or postal order payable to BWMA.

But is any postage and packing required etc?

Bryan,

That question appeared in a final exam given to students in 1895 in Saline, Kansas, not to ones in the UK. Here's the URL: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/quizzes/8thgrade_test.cfm
Here are the relevant questions/answers:

-A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide.How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

Answer: Slightly over 48 bushels

-If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cents per bushel, deducting 1,050 pounds for tare?

Answer: $24.10 (Notice this amount of wheat is the same as the wagon held)

-Find cost of 6,720 pounds of coal at $6.00 per ton.

Answer: $20.16

-What is the cost of 40 boards, 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20.00 per sq. ft.?

Answer $12,800

-What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?

Answer $2400

I said some questions were from US some from UK. Do you get sent the Yardstick, Matt?

White Plastic Rulers (and the march "The Yarstick")
March 29 2004 at 10:46 AM Bryan Parry

Onto the Yardstick.. I would say that there is some interesting stuff in there. Something that particularly caught my attention, though, in this month's issue, was the section "Falling Standards". This section published some weights and measures questions from a nineteenth centruy US paper designed for 13 year olds, and an early twentieth Century British one for the "11+" exams. Of especial interest and note (at least for me) were the following questions:


"A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and three feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?"

"Find cost of 6,720lb of coal at $6.00 per ton"

"A bicycle wheel travels 7'4" for each revolution of the back wheel. If the wheel revolves twice in every second, at what rate in miles per hour is the bicycle travelling"


Don't talk nonsense Bryan, according to 2 Yankee guys on this board, US children learn measurements by osmosis. And their imperial counterparts here maintain that British children never wasted a minute at school on such trivial things.

Problems like these, adapted to modern times, are still posed in America. Worse still, now the poor sods have to learn metric measures on top of it, b/c without them they can't function in an ever more metric America. What a waste of time and effort.

Congratulations, metre. You killed the thread by driving it back to your old redundant arguments.

BWMA, is there a p&p charge? I can't seem to see anything on this in the Yardstick itself.

Bryan,

Didn't notice that you said there were some for the UK and some for the US until too late. Didn't mean to sound argumentative.

No I don't get the Yardstick, but would like to.

Yes I haven't gotten to your emails yet, but plan to.

Metre,

Why not try doing the problems yourself instead of just ranting about nothing. For further amusement, change the amounts to conventional metric measures and do them. Then come back and try making some useful contributions. Otherwise, shut the heck up.

Most of us would say the same thing.

But we wouldn't say "heck".

Although I have to say that it's quite a close spelling to what we might say.

MattS,
I appreciate you might be busy. Get back to my emails when you can. I will likely still be around :D

Metre,

Why not try doing the problems yourself instead of just ranting about nothing. For further amusement, change the amounts to conventional metric measures and do them. Then come back and try making some useful contributions. Otherwise, shut the heck up.


Some advice, if it hurts you that much to have your face rubbed into imperial misery, stop the heck reading my posts.
How on earth can you make a useful contribution to OBSOLETE measurements?

Re: White Plastic Rulers (and the march &quote;The Yarstick&quote;) March 31 2004, 1:26 AM

Congratulations, metre. You killed the thread by driving it back to your old redundant arguments.


Talk of reduncy conjures up imperial units.

If only he knew what people - from both "sides" - thought about him and his "opinions" !!!

His very existance mirrors his favourite word!

"How on earth can you make a useful contribution to OBSOLETE measurements?"

Obsolete, a.-No longer in use; gone into disuse; disused; neglected

(From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)

Hmmm, Last time I checked, these measurements are used everyday by a large quantity of people, so please tell me how they are obsolete?

While you work on that, I'll go check a site plan for Baltimore City, which I'm working on where everything is measured in feet and the scale is 1"=20'.

Eric: "No it isn't"