Essay examples --

In the past, people have always tried their own ways of using daily measurements. It was needed and used for daily trade as well as further businesses. These things could only have been made if the people knew they were being fair and honest; hence, the reason that different measurements needed to exist. Many short distance measurements were based on the lengths of the human body. The width of a thumb was used to resemble the inch, which we used today in the English System of Measurements. The foot, which is twelve inches, was compared to the length of the human foot; however, today it is derived to be longer than most people’s feet. The yard, which is equal to three feet, was inferred to be the length from the tip of the nose, to the end of the middle finger when the arm and hand are extended. The Anglo Saxons of England measured these short differences in their own ways too. The length of three barleycorns was their length of the inch (it was very close to the modern length) . Then in 1066, the Normans conquered England and brought back to England the Roman tradition of the twelve inch foot. During the reign of Henry I the foot became official and was engraved on the base of a column of St. Peter’s church in London (Rowlett, R. (2001). A dictionary of units of measurement. English customary weights and measures). He also arranged the yard to be established in England as well. Although, inches, feet, yards etc. measured shorter distances, miles were used to measure much longer distances. This mile was a Roman unit, which was primarily the length of 1,000 paces of a Roman legion. The â€Å"pace† was meant to be two steps, about five feet, which measured the mile to be roughly about 5,000 feet. The basic unit that was used for weight ... .... Origin of the metric system). Currently, people of many countries use this SI unit for measurements. The meter is used for measuring length (it can be converted to millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, kilometers, decameters, and hectometers). The liter is used to measure volume and its conversions are similar to the meter conversions. The gram is used to measure mass and its conversions follow the meter’s conversions as well. Scientists from all over the world make sure of they use this metric system in order to communicate data and make all calculations simpler. Although a vast majority of world uses the metric system in daily activities, the United States, UK, and other countries decide to still use English units daily. And even though everyone in the world may use different measurements daily, it was all created to make our lives a little simpler each day.