On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 23:37:41
kilopascal wrote:
>2001-09-25
>
>The 2001 Sep-Oct issue of Metric Today has an error on page 8, the back page.
>
>The Answers to Metric Training & Education Test states:
>
>7/10 of 1 hectare = 700 square metres.
>...
??? Perhaps this is a typical case of old habits diing hard, but why the heck the "
7/10 "? Shouldn't we practice what we preach? Why not 70% instead? Maybe this
fraction thing was the real culprit behind this typo.
I'm not against fractions, but (I'm sorry to say this) IMHO using fractions with the
denominator 10 is really wholly utterly unacceptable! I even recall from my earlier
education in Brazil (some 30+ years ago) that ALL my teachers strongly condemned this
practice at all costs! In other words, we were taught that we should NEVER ever use
fractions with factors of 10 in the denominator position!!! Why? Simply because
given that society uses the decimal system for counting the proper correct way of
showing numbers that are divided by factors of 10 is by simply using the decimal
point!!! (Example: 723/1000 would be "incorrect", as it should be written as 0.723.
Now, THAT is what I call effective education! ;-) And reason why you will NEVER see
a Brazilian use factors of 10 in the denominator of a fraction.
Marcus
Get 250 color business cards for FREE!
http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/
