Numbering systems and conversions

Numbering Systems: Duo, Hex, and Decimal

Although many people like to say we live in a decimal (i.e., base 10) world this is not completely true.

Our currency is in the decimal system as everything is multiples of 10 or 100. e.g., 100 cents in a dollar.  Natural resource inventories in the U.S. are collected with a mixture of decimal (e.g., 100 links in a chain) and the duodecimal (e.g., base 12) numbering system, where examples include 12 inches in a foot.

Other numbering systems are all around us. For example, time is is in the sexagesimal (i.e., base 60), with 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour. Also if you do any sort of computer programming, you will also run across the hexadecimal system (i.e., base 12). In short, the world can be a confusing mass of numbers.

Numbering Systems: English and Metric Units

In natural resource measurements two common types of measurement systems are commonly used. Namely, the metric and English (or Imperial as its called in England) measurement systems. The English system is used by land/resource managers The Metric system is used in scientific reports and proceedings Its essential to know both systems and how to convert between them.
 

The SI (Système International) System are standard measures that have been repeated in multiple observations. We use these 4 in natural resources (others are the ampere, mol, and candela):

• Length, meter (m): The length of light traveled in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds

• Mass, kilogram (kg): The mass of a certain cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy held in a vault in Sevres, France

• Time, seconds (s): 9192631770 vibrations of the radiation emitted at a specific wavelength of cesium-133

• Temperature, Kelvin (K): 1/273.15 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water
   

Future attempts to make similar measurements can be compared against these defined standards.

In the U.S., the metric system is used alongside another system, which has its origins from the colonial days. The system is called the English system, although in Great Britain and Canada it is often called the Imperial system. Most vegetation and land measurements in the U.S. are collected in this numbering system. Common English measures of length and area are:

• 1 foot = 12 inches

• 1 log = 2 sticks = 16 feet

• 1 chain = 4 rods = 22 yards = 66 feet = 100 links

• 1 square chain = 66 x 66 feet

• 1 acre = 10 sq chains

• 1 square mile = 640 acres

Numbering Systems: Common Conversions

To convert between the metric and English systems (and vice versa) there are a series of standard conversion formulas. Please refer to the following worksheets as these are the conversion formulas used within each of CNR's measurement courses: Common Conversions or Useful Rangeland Conversions