What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a cubit as a unit of length?
Answers
Answer:
Simply because it is no longer a commonly known measure.
No one outside of the US seems to have a grasp on inches or feet, nowadays, with the possible exception of the UK; and millions of people use them daily.
The meter and its derivatives are common everywhere else; used by billions and billions of people.
The cubit is a historic measurement that was never exactly defined, there are two main accepted lengths for it, at 14 and 18 inches, and it technically varies from person to person, as it was defined as the length of one’s forearm.
That said, the cubit, thumb, hand, and pace are all practical measurements using one’s body parts as a standard to work from.
As such, they can be used, but not for measurements you want to share with anyone else and expect them to immediately recognize the same length that you meant.
It’s like a baker using a regular teacup instead of the standard measuring cup, or liters: as long as they are consistent in using the same teacup for all of their measurements, so they are proportional, they will work. They may not have the same size result as someone using a standard measure, but they were self-consistent in proportions.
But that same baker can’t use their teacup while an assistant is using a coffee cup or soup cup. Their measures will not then match.
This is the very reason why the US hasn’t gone completely metric yet: within the US, we are all using the same customary measurements, so we only have a problem when trying to match the rest of the world, but as long as we are internally consistent, it is not a problem.
However, we are slowly adapting to the rest of the world as it becomes important or convenient to.
I don’t think the cubit has been used since standardized measures were enforced starting as early as the Roman Empire, and followed by each of the monarchies of Europe.
As such, it is what is known as a deprecated measurement, which simply means one that is not preferred to be used.
So, it’s not that a cubit is a bad measurement for length, it’s just a rare, outdated, and mostly meaningless one in today’s world, it’s obsolete.
Obsolete measurements are why I don’t measure my speed in furlongs per fortnight. (1 furlong per fortnight = 0.000166309524 meter per second) (2688 furlongs per fortnight = 1 mile per hour = 1.61 kilometers per hour)
Answer:
Simply because it is no longer a commonly known measure.
Explanation: