Hah hah. I sure have been getting responses from those who need to work in tiny measurements! Don, I appreciate your thoughts on this topic 😁

Thanks for checking in with your thighs Lana!!

Fractions & inches are both representation of a whole not 10. As someone who owns a trophy shop and often has to create art or speak to an engraving machine digitally I do so in decimals. If I’m asking someone to cut something w a ruler I say it in fractions. I think both expressions are quite useful when it comes to measurement.

Oh my gosh Richard – thank you for your detailed comment! You have my head spinning lol! I’m going to have to reread this a few times to let it sink in…
I know a lot of artists with a mathematical bent will enjoy your addition to this conversation.
I guess you don’t have a website where we can see your bespoke furniture?

A minus depends on positioning. The minus before the plus [/-+means 1/64 more than the numerator. The minus after the plus [ /+-] means 3/64 more than the numerator. Or it can be noted “/–” meaning the same as the latter. Rather, referencing the next 16th numerator from the last.
So… 7-10/+- = seven and fortythree sixtyfourths or 7-43/64.
7-10/– = seven and 39/64. 7-12/+ = seven and 24/32. When I’m doing radius woodwork, I convert the 16th to .0625 and the 32nd to .03125 and so on, because I can get pretty darn exacting with the decimal. Then I round to the nearest 256th to get close to 3.5 thousandths tolerance as possible. After all, we can visually divide the space between two 16ths into 12 parts to aim at the 3.5 thousandths or 1/256 tolerance of perfection. This ensures that the radius I’m artfully and creatively joining the the angular pieces, join up flawlessly. Yes, I did construction (site, finish Carpentry) for decades. Cut/ glue and nail. But today, with the custom woodshop focus, I do much more creative artful projects. And use both systems. Actually I even employ Pythagorian system of 9 quite regularly as well… .Part of the art for me.

Yet when its all said and done, I always convert back to imperial 16th fractions because, well, 1) I’m used to it and I have fun with combining those systems in my own unique way. And 2) my material comes in quarter inch increments and my tools all register in inches…… including my tape…… that’s “measuring” tape for those artists that are not familiar with the art is Carpentry and joinery. 😇😁😉
✌🏾😎🙏🏾

Hah hah. Well spotted Egdir! And I can hardly believe I missed that error. Thank you and now fixed.

And thank you for your additional comment regarding the practice of US engineers to convert and convert back. And yes, far better to remain in decimal!

Yes, and the author is also confused. “five and a half inches by seven and three eighths inches. Do you write 5 1/2 x 7 1/8 in? Or do you write 5.5 x 7.125 inches? ”
Well, no, because seven and three eighths inches is 7 3/8, not 7 1/8. If you are going to publish, get it right.

Interestingly, US American engineers convert inches and fractions into decimal, make the calculation, then convert back to the approximate nearest fraction, making everything quite inaccurate. It would be far better to just remain in decimal. I worked for a year in the USA at a biology research lab, and everything was done using international SI units, including temperature. This is because if they don’t the rest of the world will ignore USA published research as unusable.

You touched on the reason why inches sometimes have decimals instead of fractions, engineering. Also computing. I work at a hardware store and if I cut a piece of glass to 37 5/8 inches by 23 7/8 I have to enter the numbers in the point of sale as a decimal. It’s annoying but I just suck it up. When converting from metric to imperial you get far more accurate conversions using decimals as well.

Thanks for chiming in on this topic Sean!