this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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Showerthoughts

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why don't people say mega meters (self.showerthoughts)
submitted 8 months ago by joel_feila to c/showerthoughts
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How come people say 5,000 km and not 5 Mm?
why not just say millions of meters or Mega meters?

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[–] gedaliyah 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I think it's a question of use. I can't think of many examples where you would quickly need to know the measurement to the nearest Mm. Maybe if for some reason you deal with a lot of lunar orbits? Diameters of exoplanets?

Any earth distances we need to know with greater precision, and any stellar distances are probably better measured in light years, etc.

[–] southernbrewer 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Odometer readings

[–] pete_the_cat 1 points 8 months ago

"I've driven 112.326 megameters" takes the same amount of time to say as 112,326 kilometers. 🤷‍♂️