I have this 2-5/8 tile I need to split in half. Ok, 1-5/16. Contrast that with 2.625 / 2 = 1.3125.
I'm sure tradespeople who use metric have their own ways of making simple calculations in their heads, but that's an example of why a lot of people who work with fractions prefer them.
These rounding errors add up. And you can't really get away with sticking to metric because (in the USA) you're bound run into a situation where you have to buy pre-fabbed goods measured in SAE.
So now you need to not only deal with decimal to fraction conversions, but remember the "special cases" like 3/8ths.
Anyone who works with hand tools should already be familiar with both metric and imperial and converting between them at this point, especially in the UK where /both/ measurement systems are used.
To me it feels like those videos of people who lost their arms and learned to play the drums with their feet.
Impressive, but also born out of limitations.
> tradespeople who use metric
2.625 / 2 = Divide each digit by 2 = 1 . 3 1 (2.5) = 1.3125
Most of the time it isn't needed because there isn't a lot of those fractions going around to begin with. The problem isn't the units, themselves (inches, etc). It's that their relation isn't 10.
That's a feature. 10 isn't divisible by 3.
The latter is much easier to think about IMO.
But I will grant you, converting between denominators makes my head hurt in the imperial system. Overall I do still think metric is easier as a whole.
Calculations with those numbers are trivial to make, and when they aren't trivial those numbers are also easier to type on a calculator than fractions.
Significant digest isn't only something they teach in physics, it exists in the real world.
Not as easy.