There are just over 2,000 DRIs in the entire US, 46 of which are women. Alabama is leading the list with >300 inmates per 10M inhabitants.

  • CrayonRosary@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    It’s not about being normal. This data is for scientists. The denomination was a deliberate choice given the various sizes of the data. It might be as low as single digits in some cases.

    We use decimals all the time. We’re not dumb. But when making direct comparisons of values, it’s a simple fact that comparing 5 to 20 is easier than comparing 0.05 to 0.2. This is a scientific fact. It’s easier for your brain to parse. You can’t deny that. Go ask a psychologist. In addition, the data is cleaner. It’s easier to print “5” than “0.05”, and then you mention the denominator under the graph or table of data.

    Every engineer and scientist in the US uses metric, and it doesn’t matter what the average person uses. Proper home cooks find bread recipes with metric weights for ingredients, for example. Woodworkers use feet and inches. People who use the Imperial system are just people using what they know. It’s entirely moot to this conversation. I don’t know why you keep bringing up fractions and the Imperial system as if that adds any weight to your argument about the actual topic at hand. The topic being scientists using a deliberate unit of measure to make it easy to print values and compare them at a glance.

    • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      We’re not dumb

      I’m not suggesting this at all. I’m arguing that using “parts per 10 million” makes more sense to an American audience because fractions are more common in America. So using non common denominators is easier for an American audience. Whereas in metric countries, using standard denominators like thousand, million, billion, etc with decimals and significant figures is easier to interpret.

      it’s a simple fact that comparing 5 to 20 is easier than comparing 0.05 to 0.2.

      Sure, but you’re ignoring the additional cognitive load of using non common denominators. And losing the ability to easily compare these metrics with others.

      Every engineer and scientist in the US uses metric

      Imperial measurements are commonly used in construction & civil engineering in the US.