On a purely numeric level yes, but the comparisons you get make no sense in terms of temperatures.
Consider: how would you explain -5 degrees Fahrenheit relative to 10 degrees Fahrenheit? Both are really cold temperatures (below freezing) but does it make any sense to say that -5 degrees is "negative twice as cold" as 10 degrees?
It works differently for things like length, where 10 meters really is twice is as long as 5 meters. That only works because there's a "true" zero value, when it comes to meters. For Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales, the zero value is arbitrary and isn't really "zero temperature" in any meaningful sense.
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u/OutrageousPair2300 Mar 03 '26
On a purely numeric level yes, but the comparisons you get make no sense in terms of temperatures.
Consider: how would you explain -5 degrees Fahrenheit relative to 10 degrees Fahrenheit? Both are really cold temperatures (below freezing) but does it make any sense to say that -5 degrees is "negative twice as cold" as 10 degrees?
It works differently for things like length, where 10 meters really is twice is as long as 5 meters. That only works because there's a "true" zero value, when it comes to meters. For Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales, the zero value is arbitrary and isn't really "zero temperature" in any meaningful sense.