Humans have been measuring things for a long time.

In fact, in 1215 the Magna Carta called for “standard measures of wine, ale, and corn.” 

Today, most of the world does its measuring in the metric system, a simple system based off ten. 

One kilometer is one thousand meters. One meter is one hundred centimeters. And one centimeter is ten millimeters.  

But the U.S. uses the imperial system. 

One mile equals 1,760 yards. One yard is three feet and one foot is 12 inches.  

And we’re basically alone in doing this. Which begs the question — why?