2000-10-28
The "restriction" on the prefixes centi, deci, deka and hecto come mostly
from the engineering disciplines. Maybe, because engineers use prefixes the
common man doesn't, such as micro, nano, pico, mega and giga, these four
would add an extra burden of memorizing more prefixes. Whereas the man on
the street might only use the original 6, the engineer would have to adjust
to the original 6, plus 5 more. If we eliminate from usage the four that do
not fit into the "1000" format, we reduce the engineer's requirement to 7
prefixes instead of 11.
But, does it matter? Whatever is written or spoken in any one prefix can be
instantaneously converted to another with little or no difficulty. If I
preferred centimetres and someone told me something in millimetres, how hard
is it for me to move a decimal point one place to the left? This is a big
problem when using FFU, as converting between units is a big chore. And I'm
sure that this resistance to having to convert between unit prefixes has a
lot to do with people stuck in the FFU mode.
We need to really break free of the restrictions imposed on measurement by
the poor structure of FFU.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, 2000-10-28 04:12
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:8833] Re: Cribsheet
On Sat, 28 Oct 2000 07:37:17 +0200, you wrote:
>What is this idea about only using 1000-multiples?
>The cm and cL are two of the most useful units in everyday-metric system.
>The might not fit in some 1000-pattern but that is no reason to
prevent people
>from using them. Ordinary people don't care about 1000-patterns.
...
>
>The metric system has been around for over 100 years overhere and
the units
>above are some of those that turned out to be useful. There is no
reason not
>accepting them.
Exactly, Gustaf. The stress on the use of 1000-multiples and
sub-multiples was so strong that even I was convinced that 'the cm
isn't SI' until very recently. But the BIPM reference quite clearly
gives the centi- etc. prefixes as perfectly valid (and they're not
listed alongside other things which are merely being 'tolerated').
Chris
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