Jim wrote in USMA 16511: >"Joseph B. Reid" wrote: >.... >> Don't worry about the radian and steradian. The average citizen will never >> meJames Frysinger wrote in USMA `et them. They are the tools of mathematicians and physicists. > > Excellent point. I wonder if (1) it is possible to wean the average >citizen from the degree to the grad (or centiquad) and (2) would the >effort to do so be worthwhile. Perhaps, after all peoples of the world >have become used to seeing and using all other measurements in neat >decimal form they will tire of a quadrant being divided into 90 parts >and will come to prefer 100 parts. That, to me, is something to worry >about in 20 a to 40 a.
>Jim The quad is not dead. Some European surveyors use it. Wild of Heerbrugg, Switzerland, makes theodolites with grad graduations. French government maps are graduated in grads, with the prime meridian passing through Paris, and in degrees with the prime meeridian passsing through Greenwich. The degree will probably survive with mechnaical engineers, architects and machinists because they frequently use 30� and 60�, which are more convenient than 33.333..g and 66.666..g. Also, there is also the enormous weight of existing historical records in degrees. Joe Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
