Please tell me this answer and other thoughts

[Scarlett]

7.2 pounds is not the same at 7 pounds and 2 ounces right?

 

[Forget-Me-Not]

No, it’s 7 and 2/10 of a pound . . . So 7 and 3.2 oz if I mathed right in my head. 

[catz]

No.  7.2 lbs = 7 lbs 3.2 oz

[Danae]

Correct.  An ounce is .0625 lb, so 7lbs 2oz is 7.125 pounds .

[Scarlett]

Thank you. That is what I came up with too…..

I just had someone report a baby’s birth weight to me and she said 7.2.  I said 7 pounds 2 ounces?  (Because I have never heard baby’s weight reported as point anything.).  She said yes.  But later she put down 7.2 again and so I asked her, ‘are they saying it like that? 7.2? Or are they saying, 7 pounds 2 ounces.   She said, same thing.

And I just said ‘close enough I guess.’

it is driving me nuts that she thinks that is the same thing.  Why do these things bother me?

[Forget-Me-Not]

That would annoy the heck out of me too. Whether or not I’d attempt to correct it would depend on my relationship with the person doing it.
 

This would not be a problem if we’d all just go metric 😬

[catz]

As a person with a math degree that would make me crazy too!  WRONG!  🤣🤪

[SKL]

LOL it's wrong, but don't let it bother you.  Not significant.

I remember how I cringed when my SIL told her kid (in a tone that said "my kid's gonna grow up smart") that the spine was "the bone in your back."  I'm still not sure if she actually believed there was only one bone in your back.

[Annie G]

It bugs me, too, but I think non mathy people hear a nurse say 7 2 and assume 7.2, not 7 pounds 2 ounces. 
I know it shouldn’t annoy me, but it does. Probably because I felt like I always had people questioning whether our homeschooled kids were learning enough. And clearly some people should have been more worried about their own kids’ math education. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Could  the person be more familiar with decimal?  I wouldn't know what 7.2 pounds was without deep thought. I have never seen pounds and ounces written in that way. All my pounds and ounce experiance is only with cooking 

Decimal is so much more simpler, no fractions involved 

[Scarlett]

Just now, Melissa in Australia said:

Could  the person be more familiar with decimal?  I wouldn't know what 7.2 pounds was without deep thought. I have never seen pounds and ounces written in that way. All my pounds and ounce experiance is only with cooking 

Decimal is so much more simpler, no fractions involved 

No. I feel quite certain she was being told by the nurses 7 pounds 2 ounces but wrote 7.2 in the text to  me.  

[Ausmumof3]

Lol… spend a significant amount of time trying to teach Y5 ds not to do this last year 

and we don’t even use pounds and ounces except when talking about babies 

[Scarlett]

I would like to stop caring about this kind of stuff.  
 

When I read back over the text I can see that I should have never questioned her at all when she put 7.2.

[Melissa in Australia]

4 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Lol… spend a significant amount of time trying to teach Y5 ds not to do this last year 

and we don’t even use pounds and ounces except when talking about babies 

Yes I use to refer to babies in pounds and ounces but dh would always go on about English pounds and some other type of pounds of a different weight used in North America.  So confusing. 

[Katy]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

 Why do these things bother me?

Because you’re not stupid and it bugs you when someone is so carelessly imprecise, it’s like a lie. 

[Corraleno]

54 minutes ago, SKL said:

I remember how I cringed when my SIL told her kid (in a tone that said "my kid's gonna grow up smart") that the spine was "the bone in your back."  I'm still not sure if she actually believed there was only one bone in your back.

My DD briefly belonged to a homeschool Brownie troop, and during an animal identification activity one of the moms was absolutely adamant that snakes were invertebrates. A few of the kids, including DD, kept insisting that snakes were vertebrates, and she was getting more and more annoyed until she blurted out what she thought was the ultimate gotcha: "How could a snake wiggle if it had a big ol' bone down the middle???"

[wintermom]

26 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Yes I use to refer to babies in pounds and ounces but dh would always go on about English pounds and some other type of pounds of a different weight used in North America.  So confusing. 

Wait! There are different pounds in England than in the US? I know in England people often use "stone" (14 pounds) for body weight measurement, I thought an Imperial pound (0.45 kg) was the same no matter which country your were in. Google tells me this is so. 😉 

[Scarlett]

37 minutes ago, Katy said:

Because you’re not stupid and it bugs you when someone is so carelessly imprecise, it’s like a lie. 

I honestly think she is completely unaware there is a difference.  And not intellectually curious enough to think my confusion could be a sign she was missing something.  

[SKL]

TBH I wonder if she saw your "7 pounds 2 oz?" and thought "oh my, she doesn't seem to know about metrics, and I'm not going to embarrass her ..."

[Melissa in Australia]

30 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Wait! There are different pounds in England than in the US? I know in England people often use "stone" (14 pounds) for body weight measurement, I thought an Imperial pound (0.45 kg) was the same no matter which country your were in. Google tells me this is so. 😉 

My Canadian dh has always been adiment that English pounds are different to the ones used in Canada and USA. 

I haven't the slightest idea as I use metric. 

The only time I use pounds are old recipes in cooking. Then I go by 4 Oz is 125 grams of butter. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Melissa in Australia
spelling

[wintermom]

7 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

My Canadian dh has always been adiment that English pounds are different to the ones used in Canada and USA. 

I haven't the slightest idea as I use metric. 

The Imperial pound is what is used in Canada (I'm Canadian), and going by the name "imperial" it's also used in England. US uses the Imperial pound as well. 

There appears to be a US ton and an Imperial ton. Perhaps your dh is thinking of this?

Edited April 19, 2023 by wintermom

[Melissa in Australia]

Just googled. Us conversion Oz to grams would come up with 4 Oz 113 grams

Australian conversion is this

 

[Melissa in Australia]

Maybe Australia made up there own conversion to make it easier for ourselves? 

Or maybe I have been confused forever and only measure liquid in millilitres and solids in grams and never heard of measuring  liquid ounces that are different to solids ounces??????? 

I am getting more and more confused as I type. 

The recipes worked that is all I know

[Melissa in Australia]

Oh I found this chart so maybe I am right? 

It has 500 grams as 1 pound. That was what I was taught in primary school

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[Scarlett]

21 minutes ago, SKL said:

TBH I wonder if she saw your "7 pounds 2 oz?" and thought "oh my, she doesn't seem to know about metrics, and I'm not going to embarrass her ..."

If babies in America were measured in metric that is.  

[Garga]

I had a conversation with a homeschooling mom that I didn’t know very well who thought that Haiti and Hades were the same place. I felt like a deer in headlights thinking, “Wait…do I tell her…what do I do? That’s so weird. How could she think they’re the same place?” and the moment passed.

It’s been 15 years and obviously, I’m still thinking about it!

Edited April 19, 2023 by Garga

[happi duck]

I am totally fine with people not knowing things.  No one can know everything.  It does bother me though when people don't want to know things to the point of thinking it doesn't even matter.

[Scarlett]

3 minutes ago, happi duck said:

I am totally fine with people not knowing things.  No one can know everything.  It does bother me though when people don't want to know things to the point of thinking it doesn't even matter.

Yes. 

[maize]

25 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Just googled. Us conversion Oz to grams would come up with 4 Oz 113 grams

Australian conversion is this

 

I think fluid ounces are different from non-fluid ounces.

Maybe?

[Melissa in Australia]

How confusing

Maybe when cooking in Australia we use different ounces to grams conversion ???? 

I wouldn't put it past us Australians to have just rounded the ounces to grams evenly  when we did the conversion in the 60s to metric and say we are using English ounces to grams. We Aussies have been known to do that kind of thing. 

[Arcadia]

18 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

How confusing

Maybe when cooking in Australia we use different ounces to grams conversion ???? 

I wouldn't put it past us Australians to have just rounded the ounces to grams evenly  when we did the conversion in the 60s to metric and say we are using English ounces to grams. We Aussies have been known to do that kind of thing. 

In asia when cooking at home, we just approximate so 1 kg is 2.2lbs 

For some medication by infusion here, the dosage goes by weight for adults as well. So for adults below 100lbs they have to adjust the dosage and is not supposed to give the full dose. 

[gardenmom5]

No.

0.2 - is 2/10ths (or 1/5th) of a lb.

there are 16 oz in a lb.  2 ounces is 1/8th of a lb.

[LaughingCat]

Fluid ounces measure liquid volume and ounces measure weight

[gardenmom5]

3 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Thank you. That is what I came up with too…..

I just had someone report a baby’s birth weight to me and she said 7.2.  I said 7 pounds 2 ounces?  (Because I have never heard baby’s weight reported as point anything.).  She said yes.  But later she put down 7.2 again and so I asked her, ‘are they saying it like that? 7.2? Or are they saying, 7 pounds 2 ounces.   She said, same thing.

And I just said ‘close enough I guess.’

it is driving me nuts that she thinks that is the same thing.  Why do these things bother me?

people who don't fully grasp math - may not understand the difference.

if you understand the difference, it would bug you.

but then - my son is an engineer . . . many things bug him . . . . .

[gardenmom5]

7 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

For some medication by infusion here, the dosage goes by weight for adults as well. So for adults below 100lbs they have to adjust the dosage and is not supposed to give the full dose. 

I guess I've heard one too many horror stories from 2dd.  (Hospital PharmD)

Many meds have different concentrations, and that seriously affects dose.   so it's not just "how much does the patient weigh?" - it's "what is the concentration of the drug?"  that affects the dose.

[Arcadia]

22 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I guess I've heard one too many horror stories from 2dd.  (Hospital PharmD)

Many meds have different concentrations, and that seriously affects dose.   so it's not just "how much does the patient weigh?" - it's "what is the concentration of the drug?"  that affects the dose.

My oncologist is very specific in his instructions and I picked the infusion center that the nurses are much more careful (the second time) instead of chatting and not looking when administering the dosage. My first time was full dose by mistake at the not as good location.  I weigh under 100lbs and they knew it because they took my weight at every checkin.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Arcadia
Clarification

[Scarlett]

The thing is I feel like a very non mathy person. I guess all those years of teaching my son paid off.

But really it is a lack of curiosity more than anything.

 

[Brittany1116]

I had a feeling this was related to the weight of a baby. I have seen this a lot since I had my second child... nurses and other mothers reporting weights with a decimal. They always mean 7.2 as 7 lb 2 oz but that's not what decimals mean and it frustrates me. I am convinced it is a common nursing shorthand now. It is unfortunate because, as evidenced by recent posts on this board, precision and clarity with reporting weight gain in infants is incredibly important. 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, Brittany1116 said:

I had a feeling this was related to the weight of a baby. I have seen this a lot since I had my second child... nurses and other mothers reporting weights with a decimal. They always mean 7.2 as 7 lb 2 oz but that's not what decimals mean and it frustrates me. I am convinced it is a common nursing shorthand now. It is unfortunate because, as evidenced by recent posts on this board, precision and clarity with reporting weight gain in infants is incredibly important. 

Not just infants.

 

The definitive example is that Mars probe . . . .  big, huge, mistake . .  very, very, expensive . . . . I didn't know NASA had that many eggs . . . . 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

My oncologist is very specific in his instructions and I picked the infusion center that the nurses are much more careful (the second time) instead of chatting and not looking when administering the dosage. My first time was full dose by mistake at the not as good location.  I weigh under 100lbs and they knew it because they took my weight at every checkin.

All about training.
dd is a stickler when training.  not just the techs under her, she lectures nurses.

[Arcadia]

10 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

All about training.
dd is a stickler when training.  not just the techs under her, she lectures nurses.

In my case, it was more about attitude and complacency. At the other center, when nurses are unsure, they would call an experienced nurse to verify and sometimes to watch just to make sure they don’t do wrongly. Both places have more nurses available than patients so they aren’t short staffed. 

[SKL]

Well I often type dates as 2023.04.19 and telephone numbers as 312.665.4321, so I could see it being a shorthand if everyone in the industry uses it the same way.

These conversations make me worry for one of my kids, who is terrified of both math and cooking/measuring.  I honestly doubt she knows or cares that there are 16 ounces in a pound.  And I say this as a person who is the exact opposite.  If we could will our kids to grow up knowledgeable and precise, well ....

Edited April 19, 2023 by SKL

[Melissa in Australia]

31 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Not just infants.

 

The definitive example is that Mars probe . . . .  big, huge, mistake . .  very, very, expensive . . . . I didn't know NASA had that many eggs . . . . 

That space rocket that blew up and killed astronauts in the (was it) 80s. Was because some part put in was in imperial measurements instead of metric

Huge mistake. All aerospace students here in Australia are taught about that simple but massive mistake with measuring

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Oh goodness, that would bother me too, and I'd have trouble keeping my mouth shut.

Another example is when people refer to a child's age as something like 2.8.  I think they usually are meaning 2yr8months, and not 2yr and 8/10 of a year. 

 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

That space rocket that blew up and killed astronauts in the (was it) 80s. Was because some part put in was in imperial measurements instead of metric

Huge mistake. All aerospace students here in Australia are taught about that simple but massive mistake with measuring

the mars probe - where they mixed up metric and imperial measuring systems - didn't kill anyone.

The challenger's fuel rocket blew up because of the failure of the O ring on the booster due to freezing temperatures.

[Melissa in Australia]

23 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

the mars probe - where they mixed up metric and imperial measuring systems - didn't kill anyone.

The challenger's fuel rocket blew up because of the failure of the O ring on the booster due to freezing temperatures.

Thank you for the correction 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[marbel]

8 hours ago, Scarlett said:

The thing is I feel like a very non mathy person. I guess all those years of teaching my son paid off.

But really it is a lack of curiosity more than anything.           

This is striking me as a bit harsh. I can imagine getting flustered by the repeated questioning on what is really an unimportant matter and just wanting to end the conversation. I might look into it, or ask someone else about it later. Or, I might not because...unimportant.  I would hate to be labeled as "not intellectually curious" just because something didn't seem important enough to correct/research/learn on the spot.

(Just want to note that I understand that a baby's precise weight can be very important to know - to the parents, in a clinical setting. So I'm assuming neither is the case here.)

[Scarlett]

27 minutes ago, marbel said:

This is striking me as a bit harsh. I can imagine getting flustered by the repeated questioning on what is really an unimportant matter and just wanting to end the conversation. I might look into it, or ask someone else about it later. Or, I might not because...unimportant.  I would hate to be labeled as "not intellectually curious" just because something didn't seem important enough to correct/research/learn on the spot.

(Just want to note that I understand that a baby's precise weight can be very important to know - to the parents, in a clinical setting. So I'm assuming neither is the case here.)

Oh sure. But it is not just this one thing with this person.  She often doesn’t have the facts straight and dismisses my questions to clarify. 

[Junie]

There's a baseball statistic that irritates me in this way.

There are three outs in an inning. So a pitcher that makes it through part of an inning is credited with .1, or .2 depending on if he left the inning after one out or two.  It's not precise in any way, but it fits the happy little statistics chart better than, for instance, 4.3333333 innings pitched.

And, I guess, the people who care about such things know what it means, and no one's life is in danger.  But, still, it irritates me. :)

[Lady Florida.]

9 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

The challenger's fuel rocket blew up because of the failure of the O ring on the booster due to freezing temperatures.

 

Yes, it was so very very cold that day and had been the night before too. I was teaching at the high school across the river from the launch pad and like most teachers, I took my class outside to the parking lot to watch the launch. It was common to do so and someone from the front office would always come on the speaker to let us know when it was 2 minutes to launch so we could go out. My learning challenged students and I (along with most of the school) were freezing as we watched it explode in the sky above us. 😥