Marcus, I suspect that you are not a USMA member and thus don't receive
Metric Today. That would account for your not realizing the context of
that "seven tenths" question.
Jim
Ma Be wrote:
>
> 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
>
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--
James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston
10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
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843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
