Joe Reid writes: > Jim Elwell writes: >>"dm" won't work because I've been giving too simple of an example. A >>box might be 125x320x390mm, so 1.25x3.2x3.9dm does not necessarily >>help. Centimeters might work if we are willing to round to 10 mm, but >>we have strived to use nothing but millimeters (or meters for some >>cables), and I would be hesitant to change that. >>How about 125|320|390mm? > > Quite so. That is why I hesitated to suggest 1x2x3dm. I still vote > for your original notation: "125x320x390mm". |320| stands for the > positive or absolute value of 328. > > I remember a section in elementary algebra called "ratio and > proportion". The notation was a:b :: x:y. It could have equally well > been expressed as a/b = x/y.
I've go it! I'm going to invent a NEW symbol to mean "this is a set of linear dimensions all using the unit of measure on the last one"! Oops, just had a brain cramp there. We're sticking with the format we have been using (125x320x390mm) since no one has suggested anything better and my suggestions have not got any positive feedback. Thanks to all for their comments. Jim Elwell, CAMS
