Why is 'lb' the abbreviation of the measurement of a pound?
970470
"Lb." stands for libra, the basic unit of Roman weight, from which our present-day pound derives.
47203
A pound is always written as "lb" to prevent confusion with pound (money) It is very old, traced back to the Roman "libra" (which explains its abreviation!). It was defined in England since Ethelred the Unready (968-1016). In fact, a pound (money) was originally a pound (weight) of silver, and the symbol for pound (money) is a stylised L.
32418
1 inch ~ 2.54 cm\n1 ft ~ 30.48 cm\n\ntechnically, a pound (lb) and grams/kilograms do not measure the same thing. a pound is a measure of weight (a force) while a gram is a measure of mass.  At sea level on earth, where gravity is about 9.81 m/s^2, a mass of 1 kg would approximately have 2.2 lb of weight.  But for basic science classes, this is assumed to be interchangeable
1029067
Metric measurements are a typically European concept.\n\nBear in mind most people agree that Computers will play a great role in the future, and they aren't metric why should anything else be. 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit - do they sound metric to you?\n\nI'd rather stick to miles and gallons, pounds and ounces etc.
700545
lbs means pounds, a unit used in english system in finding weight, in metric system the unit is kilograms.
15671
You may be surprised to find that there are several different pounds. The most common is the Avoirdupois Pound which is equal to 16 ounces. This is the pound that is used for almost all mass measurements in the United States.\n\nOthers include the Apothecaries' and Troy pound which are both equal to 12 ounces. The Apothecary pound was used chiefly in the pharmacuetical industry but is not used much anymore (only the "grain", an apothecary unit of mass is still used from time to time). The Troy pound is used to measure the weight of precious gems and metals. Although most people rarely have the oppportunity to buy gold in Troy pounds as gold is not often available in such large quantities in buillon form, they certainly can buy gold in Troy ounces much more readily.
1157298
"It has several names, some confusing. The most common is probably 'hash'. In the US it is sometimes called the 'pound sign' and used as a symbol for pounds weight, but this confuses the British, for whom a pound sign is £. In music, of course, it is a 'sharp'. The picturesque name 'octothorpe' has also been introduced: it is said to have been invented by an employee of Bell Laboratories in the 1960s, in honour of the American athlete Jim Thorpe. In the large form in which it appears on modern telephones it is sometimes called 'square'"\n\nI"n the United States of America, the symbol is traditionally called the pound sign. It derives from a series of abbreviations for pound avoirdupois, a unit of mass. At first "lb." was used; later, printers got a special font made up of an "lb" with a line through the ascenders so that the "l" would not be mistaken for a "1". Unicode character U+2114 (℔) is called the "LB Bar Symbol," and it is a cursive development of this symbol. Finally came the reduction to two horizontal and two vertical strokes.\n\nIts traditional commercial use in the U.S. was such that when it followed a number, it was to be read as 'pounds': 5# of sugar. And when it preceded a number, it was to be read as 'number': #2 pencil, which still appears on U.S. pencils. Thus the same character in a printer's type case had two uses."
688694
1 pound = 0.45359237 kilogram\n\nUse the link below to get other conversions!
189441
pounds multiplied by 16 = ounces\n\n16 ounces = one pound
161453
you cannot directly convert liters to pounds without knowing the density of a substance. Once you know the substances density than it is a matter of conversion using like units from the density.
1001934
Mark: \nMoney. Normally means the silver mark, a measure of silver, generally eight ounces, accepted throughout medieval western Europe. Although they were sometimes "clipped" or "debased," the English silver penny contained a standard weight of silver and so could be traded across Europe. In England the mark was worth thirteen shillings and four pence, ie. two thirds of £1. Equivalent to present value of the Euro.
1101437
1) One kilogram is equivalent to 0.001 tonnes (metric) (European: tonne)\nOne metric tons is to 1000 kilogram\n\n\n2) One kilogram is equivalent to 0.001102311310924388 tons (United States measurement also known as a short ton)\nOne tons is to 1000 kilogram907.18474
42886
There is a detailed (perhaps too detailed) explanation at the following location:\nhttp://www.france-property-and-information.com/metric-system-and-history.htm\n\nYou will also find at this location several pages which will discuss other aspects of your question.\n\nIn terms of capacity, the metric system and the USA/Imperial systems simply use different units. The situation is a bit more complex for weight/mass. \n\nWeight is how much something ways, whereas mass is the amount of matter. We say that a kilogram (mass) is equal to 2.2 pounds (weight). However, this is true (roughly) only on Earth. For example, something that is 100kg. (220 pounds) on Earth would still be 100 kg. on the moon but only about 37 pounds on the moon. That is because mass is constant whereas weight depends on gravity. For most of this, the distinction is unimportant as we all live and work on the earth. However, scientific purposes (e.g. space travel) weight and mass are very different.
759406
There's the English system, using feet, pounds and seconds.\n\nThere are the two metric systems, differing only in where you put the decimal point.  The cgs system is centimeter-gram-second.  The mks system is meter-kilogram-second.  These are also called SI (System Internationale).
6536
No one person invented the Metric System, but it dates to 18th century France.  You're right, we do already have a system, called Standard that has pounds, ounces and so on.  The reason that Metric is prefered (and indeed used by almost all developed nations except the United States) is simple:  How many ounces are in a gallon? How many square feet are in an acre?  How many inches are in a yard?  These questions yeild the following answers; .0078, 2.29 x 10^-5 and 36, not easy numbers to work with.  With Metric, the major marking points are 10, 100, 1000, and so on.  The modern metric system also uses extremely sophisticated ways of getting precise measurements based on natural objects (the size of the earth, the weight of water and so on).
1176747
It's so that the person you are talking to knows what you are talking about.\n\nWhat would the alternative be? "Twelve and seven hundred and eighty-nine thousandths?" That's a bit cumbersome.\n\nThe decimal point *creates* a division between the numbers, so we need to replicate that division by saying "point." It just makes sense.
286308
As such the smallest unit of weight is nanogram, but weight is a relative term that differs from one place to other depending on the gravitational force. Scientifically, mass is an important thing. The smallest unit to measure mass is "atomic unit" or au.\nIf u get a candy, for this answer, rate it as the best. :)