<P> The use of the Indian numbering system of crores (7007100000000000000 ♠ 10 000 000) and lakhs (7005100000000000000 ♠ 100 000), which do not map onto the SI system of prefixes, is widespread and is often found alongside or in place of the western numbering system . </P> <P> Even though Congress set up a framework for the use of the metric system in the nineteenth century, the United States continues to use US customary units, based on English measure passed by parliament under the reign of Queen Anne in 1706, for most purposes apart from science and medicine . In Puerto Rico, metric units are widely used due to its Spanish colonial history . </P> <P> On 10 February 1964, the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) issued a statement that it was to use SI except where this would have an obvious detrimental effect . In 1968 Congress authorised the U.S. Metric Study, the emphasis of which was to examine the feasibility of adopting SI . The first volume was delivered in 1970 . The study recommended that the United States adopt the International System of units, and in 1975 Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, which established a national policy of coordinating and planning for the increased use of the metric measurement system in the United States . Metrication was voluntary and to be coordinated by the United States Metric Board (USMB). </P> <P> Efforts during the Ford and Carter administrations to force metrication were seized on by many newspaper editorialists as being dictatorial . Public response included resistance, apathy, and sometimes ridicule . The underlying reasons for this response include a relative uniformity of weights and measures (though, notably, US liquid measure differed by about 20% from British Imperial measure, which was adopted throughout the British Empire in 1824) inherited from the United Kingdom in 1776, a homogeneous economy and the influence of business groups and populists in Congress caused the country to look at the short - term costs associated with the change - over, particularly those that would be borne by the consumer rather than long - term benefits of efficiency and international trade . The Metrication Board was disbanded under President Ronald Reagan's direction in 1982 . </P>

What are the benefits of using the international system of units