Norman Werling wrote in USMA 18358 >Considering what those guys went through, it was and is very accurate >indeed. I recall that one minute of the earth's surface in any circle of >circumference is exactly 1852 meters. Thus 1852 metres times 360 degrees >times 60 minutes equals 40 003.2 kilo-metres. > >So that would mean the error from the equator to either pole is 0.8 >kilo-metres (3.2 divided by 4). Can we avoid talking the pear shape of the >earth?
The nautical mile of 1852 m is only an average approximation to one minute of arc. The correlation between distance and angular measurement varies with latitude and direction. >Now you may ask why I put the hyphen in kilo-metres and why I spelled metres >that way? > >I think that the U.S. may be making a big mistake which could be rectified >if corrected early. This list has probably gone all around on this before. >A meter would be a machine whereas the metre would be for measuring >distance. Two separate words spelled differently. Chester H. Page, son of the eminent astronomer Thornton Page and representative of the Bureau of Standards, was co-editor of the English edition of "SI, The International System of Units". The other editor was Paul Vigoureux of the National Physical Laboratory. Page's name appears in the British printing of the brochure but not in the American printing because the (US) Government Printing Office insisted on changing the spelling from "metre" to "meter", and Page hence refused to allow his name to appear on the American edition. I chanced to meet Chester Page in Washington about 1995 and I recalled the spelling incident. Page looked startled and denied any connexion with the publication. >Pronunciation could be enhanced by using the hyphen because how could one >pronounce kilo-metre as >"kil ohm e tre". One would have to exert himself to do so. Perhaps it >would eliminate the use of "kilo" for >kilo-gram too. >There seems to be little problem pronouncing milli- centi- deci- deka- >hecto- etc. >Why is there with kilo- ? In Spanish it is kil�metro and it also cent�metro and mil�metro. My hunch is that the Americans picked up Spanish pronunciation of kilometre, although not of the centimetre and millimetre, from Mexico because that is the only metric unit that most American tourists ever meet. I admit that Noah Webster�s dictionary also said that the pronunciation of the kilometer should have the accent on the second syllable. Another explanation is that kilometre is pronounced on the model of thermometer, barometer, hydrometer, speedometer, manometer, etc. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
