On Wed, 1 May 2002, Joseph B. Reid wrote: > ... > I agree that the metric prefixes are conversion factors...
No. They are substitutes for base ten numerical factors which assist in placing (setting, locating) the decimal marker. No numerical digits are changed in the process of locating the decimal marker. This is *not* "conversion" in the ordinary sense of the word. ( but they have the special names of decimal multiples and submultiples. False. The "prefixes" are not the multiples. A prefix plus an SI unit are the essential components of a multiple (or submultiple). > ... Gene.
