Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
(OP)
My very first calculator 25 years ago had a DRG button. That's the first time I heard of grads - 100 grads = 90 degrees. I've yet to meet someone who's actually used them. When I was in Uni, we were told that it is used in Europe but I've never met any European engineers who were educated in grads: they were all educated in degrees or radians. All the European text books I've seen for Maths are in degrees.
Almost every calculator supports grads but I haven't seen a single computer program that uses grads. I've seen mils for measuring angles but I've never seen grads.
If, like they say, the Europeans use grads, there should be a grad version of the globe but I've yet to see one of those.
So the big question is: does anyone out there use grads?
Almost every calculator supports grads but I haven't seen a single computer program that uses grads. I've seen mils for measuring angles but I've never seen grads.
If, like they say, the Europeans use grads, there should be a grad version of the globe but I've yet to see one of those.
So the big question is: does anyone out there use grads?





RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
TTFN
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
Is the grad a military thing?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
Grads (grades) is one of those French Revolution/metric things like metres, grams, litres, joules, metric weeks etc. Napolean got rid of the confusing ones like the 10 day week but he kept metres etc.
The military measurement is mils but it depends on whether it is US mils or Russian mils. 1 circle = 6400 US mils = 6000 Russian mils. See http://www.boomershoot.org/general/mils.htm for the stories.
On the great Atlantic divide, I've yet to find a calculator that converts litres to UK gallons. They all seem to convert to US gallons which throws my mpg calculations out.
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
you are beyond help...
<nbucska@pcperipherals DOT com> subj: eng-tips
read FAQ240-1032
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
On the plus side for grads, N=0, NNE=25, NE=50, ENE=75 and E=100 is a lot easier than N=0, NNE=22.5, NE=45, ENE=67.5 and E=90.
However, if we do not keep to one system, however good or bad, we could end up with the crash that happened a few years back where the pilot was told the height in feet and he thought it was in metres.
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians
I collect slide rules. For many reasons; they are fine little pieces of craftmanship, they carry engineering history with them, they are an extinct breed, they are (still) quite affordable and the late ones are real beauties - the Faber, Hemmi and Aristo works tried to meet the competition from electronic caculators by introducing colour and smart design details, but in vain.
I found one with grads yesterday. It is a Faber-Castell 67/38b with a 400 grad system instead of the usual 360 degrees. It has the nickname Tachymeter and was clearly used in surveying.
So, there's another use for 400 grads: Surveying
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
RE: Does anyone use grads instead of degrees or radians