# I need help with a math problem involving water **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266 "2021-05-03T03:57:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/21 "2021-05-04T15:37:19Z")
Well, tell me how many yards you need to walk to have walked a third of a mile, and you’ll see that “English units are also great if you want to divide by 3” is an over-generalisation. Or even for weights: A third of a pound is 5.3333333333 ounces, give or take an atom. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/22 "2021-05-04T16:14:41Z")
Well a third of a mile is 1760 feet, not sure why you would need it in yards. Weight and volumes are different those are designed with binary in mind, and so aren’t easily divided by 3 but are easily divided by 2 and 4. A I’m not going to argue that given our base 10 number system metric isn’t superior for most things, and in particular the relationship between distance and liquid volume is not something that the English system gave any thought to at all. But 12 inches to a foot was specifically chosen because it had lots of factors (the same reason that there is 60 minutes in an hour) so given that the question raised was whether there was any cases where English was superior to metric I went with the design feature. All told base 12 is probably a much better number system than base 10, but no one is willing to grow the extra fingers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/23 "2021-05-04T17:10:25Z")
The products in question have labels like, “Each bomb treats up to 1,500 gallons of standing water.” It says “Made in USA” so we can assume U.S. gallons, not genuine Imperial gallons. The point is, even stuff like that does not even matter, because no precise dosage is given, only the instruction that for up to 100 sq. ft, 1500 gallons, 2 ft depth to use 1 bomb, for more than that use 2. The warning sheet absolutely uses standard units everywhere, of course, like how many mg per cubic metre of dust is the permissible exposure limit, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/24 "2021-05-04T18:56:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve noticed a reduction in mosquitoes over the years since I put up bat houses. Do the mosquitoes think _”Oh no, there must be a lot of bats living here!”_ so they go somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/25 "2021-05-04T20:01:22Z")
No, the bats go “Oh, look, prime real estate” and move in, and then they eat mosquitoes. @Buck_Godot, you’re assuming that the sub was 2.00000000000 m long, which is just as absurd as 66.6666666667 cm. In the real world, a sub’s real length will be within about 10% of its nominal length, and you’re not going to use any sort of measurement at all to cut it, just eyeball it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/26 "2021-05-04T20:38:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > I’ve noticed a reduction in mosquitoes over the years since I put up bat houses. > > Do the mosquitoes think _”Oh no, there must be a lot of bats living here!”_ so they go somewhere else? Ya see all this bat poop around under the bat houses? It all used to be mosquitos. The rest of them are now more bats. Go bats! ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266/27 "2021-05-04T22:05:17Z")
Geez, guys, cut me some slack. All I was arguing was the a system that included 12 inches in a foot and three feet in a yard, was well designed for easy division by three, and used a simple humorous example to illustrate the point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-with-a-math-problem-involving-water/941266.md?page=1)