Open Forum

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------

While I'm no expert on museum standards, I will say that in all the different fields that I've worked in there seems to be no standard when it comes to measurements.  Even medical, that seems to do everything in centimeters and milliliters, has 2" X 4" gauze pads.  Go figure.

I can think of a few possible reasons why you are getting decimal measurements.

1.  It may have been done for clarity.  One missing or moved space can throw a measurement completely off.  215/16.  Was the intent 2 15/16 or 21 5/16?  

2. The measurements were taken from technical drawings.  The only drawings I've ever seen that used fractional measurements were architectural.  

3.  The measurements were converted from metric. 

4.  With the exception of wood working, I think there is just a general move away from using fractions.  Personally, when I share measurements with someone, I stick with decimal.  And if sharing with a group, I try to include the metric equivalent.

Hope this helps.

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Bill Browne
Westlake LA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 08:50 AM
From: Laura Vookles
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------

Original Message------

While I'm no expert on museum standards, I will say that in all the different fields that I've worked in there seems to be no standard when it comes to measurements.  Even medical, that seems to do everything in centimeters and milliliters, has 2" X 4" gauze pads.  Go figure.

I can think of a few possible reasons why you are getting decimal measurements.

1.  It may have been done for clarity.  One missing or moved space can throw a measurement completely off.  215/16.  Was the intent 2 15/16 or 21 5/16?  

2. The measurements were taken from technical drawings.  The only drawings I've ever seen that used fractional measurements were architectural.  

3.  The measurements were converted from metric. 

4.  With the exception of wood working, I think there is just a general move away from using fractions.  Personally, when I share measurements with someone, I stick with decimal.  And if sharing with a group, I try to include the metric equivalent.

Hope this helps.

------------------------------
Bill Browne
Westlake LA
------------------------------

This may differ from place to place, but as a vendor we find our customers most often prefer feet and inches when measuring floor space, but some (such as those in Canada) prefer using the metric system. Since our production tolerances are within 1/32 it's generally better to use inches, otherwise some millimeters get lost in the process. With graphics tolerances are generally higher, so millimeters can be very helpful, especially with smaller scale projects - such as measuring the height of a fold for a brochure.

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Kathy Kyle
Sales, Pareti Mobile Walls, LLC
Central City IA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 08:50 AM
From: Laura Vookles
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------

A lot of it goes back to origin of convenience.

How are they sending them? In emails? If so it could be for the sake of consistency. Sometimes spaces and other characters, including fractions, get converted through the devices providing the technology, based on the operating system language, character sets, and fonts used. Even within my own institution, I see emails with special characters from Apple devices get translated into something completely irrelevant for the recipients using PCs or Androids. Spaces may become something like "%20" and so forth...which could become a problem if it's between numbers. Budgets do not always allow organizations to use the most up to date technology, especially if they use donated equipment, so it's always easiest to work with the lowest common denominator.

Do they originate from lendors who may also need to provide measurements in metric? Then they're just using simple calculator algorithms, which I assume tend to be decimal.

Or if they are technical drawings, then it's simply based on user/technology preferences/limitations. Not all CAD programs easily allow you to set up fractions, but nearly all will use decimals.

Me, as a designer, I simply converted to decimals as fractions are quite hard to document electronically.  Should it be 1-1/2" or 1 1/2" or 1_1/2" or 1(1/2)"? A simple 1.5" does not misplace the space or character, just as Bill Browne implied in his response. Plus I often have to use a calculator or a software program in the process, and decimals are the "go to", especially when on a deadline. You can't screw up simply saying it's 0.29" instead of ~9/32".

Now if only I could get my rulers and tape measures to be in decimal to eliminate a step. :)


------------------------------
Darrel Reese
Sr. Graphic Designer
Brookfield Zoo - Chicago Zoological Society
Brookfield IL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 08:50 AM
From: Laura Vookles
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------

Hi Laura

I've noticed this too. For the sake of consistency, when we use fractions in our publications I stick to 1 1/2, 1 1/4, etc.--not 1.5 or 1.25 inches. (For what it's worth, I like to round to the nearest 1/8th, though sometimes you see 16ths.)

We put both fractions and metric equivalents for most dimensions.

If numbers come in to me mixed, as you describe, I convert depending on the system (inches or metric).

Laura

------------------------------
Laura Caruso
Director of Publications
Denver Art Museum
Denver CO
Director of Publications
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 08:50 AM
From: Laura Vookles
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------

I and the editorial we at the Menil are with Laura in Denver: fractions for inches, decimals to one point (no point zero), and generally rounding frax to eighths (since those fractions are standard, and need not be constructed, in most fonts). Unless it's a technical publication in which greater precision of measurement would be required. And you trust they who measure (how many tools are printed accurately to 32nds???).

I've generally assumed the stray decimals in inch measurements come from metric conversions left unconverted to English. Folks who've done many of them over the years generally have fractions memorized to eighths, such as good old .875, which would not be published as such.

------------------------------
Joseph N. Newland
Director of Publishing
Menil Collection
Houston TX
Joseph
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-05-2018 01:03 PM
From: Laura Caruso
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

Hi Laura

I've noticed this too. For the sake of consistency, when we use fractions in our publications I stick to 1 1/2, 1 1/4, etc.--not 1.5 or 1.25 inches. (For what it's worth, I like to round to the nearest 1/8th, though sometimes you see 16ths.)

We put both fractions and metric equivalents for most dimensions.

If numbers come in to me mixed, as you describe, I convert depending on the system (inches or metric).

Laura

------------------------------
Laura Caruso
Director of Publications
Denver Art Museum
Denver CO
Director of Publications

Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 08:50 AM
From: Laura Vookles
Subject: Decimals in inch measurements?

This has been perplexing me in the past few years when working on exhibition catalogues. I am starting to have a lot of lenders send us measurements in inches with decimals instead of traditional fractions.

So far, we have been converting them back to fractions for sake of consistency. (We do the same thing if someone send us centimeters.)

I would love some conversation on this topic. Are decimals in inch measurements a new standard? Should I be doing the opposite and converting everything to the decimals? What about the future of this vs. centimeters?

Thank you for any insights and opinions.

------------------------------
Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
------------------------------