Marcus asked in USMA 11929: >Thanks, Joe, and Gene, for your help. Now I just need to know what to do >about consistence... Any example of that, at least, please? Thanks. > >(So far, what I've learned is that units could be arrived at by simply >operating upon them, as in: > >newton = kilogram times acceleration in m/s^2, etc. > >Therefore, if I transport this concept to a grading scale, such scale >would be coherent if any equation between grade levels would be equal to >such an equation with numerical values. So, for example, a performance 3 >notches above another must also be equal to the value of the former plus 3 >units, as in a 9 compared to a 6, or a 10 compared to a 7, etc. Or, >alternatively (even better!), a grade level can be depicted as a level >performance value times the scale unit, so: > >Grade = performance times scale, > >as in an 8 is 80% times 10, a 6 is 60% times 10, if the scale is 0-10, etc. > >In any case, it's quite obvious that the 4.0 alpha-grading scale would NOT >be coherent, since, for instance, > >C- is not 4/12 times 4.0 - or even ~60% times 4.0 > >OBS.: C- is 1.7 in that scale, C- is the fourth level of 12, and many >institutions "equate" a C- with ~60% performance level). > >Marcus I don't know anything about grading scales or what they are, so no comment. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines consistence as "1. Standing or remaining still; quiescence, state of rest -1751. 2. A settled condition -1702. 3. Material coherence and permanence of form; solidity enough to retain its form 1626; matter dense enough to cohere -1774. 4. The degree of firmness with which the particles of a substance cohere; degree of density. (Usu. of more or less viscous liquids.) 1626. Also fig. 5. Combination -1702. 6. Coexistence as compatible facts 1659. 7. = Consistency 1670." I hope you can find the meaning that you are looking for in the above. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
