Cannot believe that I am going to ask this question.....BUT here I go.

If something is weighed at 1.6 pounds...Does this mean one pound six ounces? I have seen on websites where this has been written and just need to make sure I get this right...please don't skewer me!

No, it should mean 1 pound 10 ounces or so. (25.6 ounces)

Edited by jshann on 01/03/2012 17:55:20 MST.

Then how does the .6 equate to the 10 ounces???

"Then how does the .6 equate to the 10 ounces???"

Multiply 16 oz(one pound) by .6 and you get 9.6 oz, close to 10 oz. Add it to 16 oz and, as John said, you get 25.6 oz. I hope this helps, Ken.

.6 pounds is just over half a pound or just over 8 ounces.

If you want to convert between grams, ounces pounds or whatever just type it in as a google search, for example "32 oz. to pounds." and the the search reasult should give you the answer.

Edited by Cameron on 01/03/2012 18:05:24 MST.

In case you're stuck off-line with only your slide rule:

1 pound = 453.6 grams
1 ounce = 28.3 grams

Thanks all....and I appreciate no one teasing me :)

>"I appreciate no one teasing me."

I never did figure out pounds, shillings and pence before they went decimal!

And only my son understands galleons, sickles and knuts - the monetary system in Harry Potter.

I just asked him: 29 knuts in a sickle, 17 sickles in a galleon.

My iMac has a "Dashboard" program that includes a calculator and conversions. I should use it more often--I always thought a hectare was smaller than an acre, but I recently discovered that a hectare is 2 1/2 times bigger!

Getting decimals involved with pounds and ounces is dicey (it's so easy with metric measurements!). Just remember that there are 16 ounces in a pound, so get out your calculator (or spreadsheet) and multiply 16 by the decimal.

I have this feeling that JK Rowling was mocking the former English system!

Edited by hikinggranny on 01/03/2012 18:27:42 MST.

I suspect sometimes it does, Ken. But it shouldn't.

After all, if you have a bag that weighs 30 oz, do you say 1.14 pounds? No, you should say 1.9 pounds.

To be fair, I have definitely seen mainstream publications confuse this issue quite a bit (Outside's most recent gear issue comes to mind). Where some gear might weigh 2 lbs, 4 oz, they'll list it at 2.4 lbs.

Now that I know to watch out for it, it just feels sloppy.

Ken, I'm totally confused. I didn't think alcohol was measured in pounds.....

I found the article that I remembered, about the Deuter ACT Zero 50+15. It weighs 3 lbs, 6 oz not 3.6 lbs as they list it.

http://blog.deuterusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BGS11_Hike_Packs.jpg

@ Ken,
It is an excellent question!! I have noticed that this generation does use 0.X as ounces, when it really is tenths of a pound. But when you grow up using a decimal system it is understandable. I always am wary when I see pounds with a decimal.

@ Dave T,
I like your style!

>"I have this feeling that JK Rowling was mocking the former English system!"

Mary,

That was my take on it as well.

The brillant thing was that she could have that perspective from INSIDE the system.

Thanks for making all that stuff clearer =)
I'm sort of glad that even you guys can have trouble with it.
As a european I only knew grams and kg, when I first came to the states, and I still don't know all about the "new" measurement.

Ounces and Fluid Ounces vary.
A floz is 29.57 ml or grams. This varies by country and system.
"US regulation 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii) also defines a fluid ounce as exactly 30 millilitres, but this is for use in nutrition labeling only" (Wikopedia)

Anyway, ounces, fluid ounces, Imperial gallons, gallons, is all screwwed up. I usually go with ~28g=1ounce unless I get rounding errors for larger numbers (over 3 ounces.)

A fl ounce of alcohol does NOT weigh 1 ounce. Closer to .78ounce by density. It has some water in it so I allow for that by rounding to .8. Not real accurate, I am backpacking...

Ahh, but a fluid ounce of pure water weighs an ounce. The tequila, less accurate. What do 16 of those weigh? One.

And what's a cubic centimeter, also known as a millileter, of water weigh? One. A thousand of those weigh, one.

Watah. It's the watah.

Thanks for the answers all.... It is much clearer now. 10 years of weighing everything and I never stopped to figure this out...... Doh