Ma Be pointed out in USMA 20834 > Brij Bhushan Vij wrote: >>Hi Marcus, Friends: >>I do get surprised when I find even experts THINKING anything decimal is >>Metric. >>METRIC is what is related to METRE and not mere linked to 'decimal units or >>divisions'. > >??? Please some historian correct me if I'm wrong, but the metric system >is a SYSTEM that has the metre *as part of it*! In other words, there is >a lot more to it than just the metre. As far as I know we call the SI >system "metric" mostly because of the breakthrough that the proposal of >the metre represented, which was a major departure to the idiotic ifp >crap! > >However, please notice that the decimal framework is an intrinsic >*inseparable* part of the SI system, even practically... "by definition". >Take decimalization out and you actually don't have an SI system, my >friend, it's that simple!
Quite right! There have been many syst�mes m�triques (metric systems) in the past. Our "metric system" was in 1793 named "le syst�me r�publicain". Later it became known as "le syst�me m�trique d�cimal" to distinguish from all the previous metric systems. The second was not in the original decimal metric system. However, the French authorities in 1793 attempted to introduce decimal time. Clocks were constructed and may still be found in some French museums. Since the rest of the world was not impressed, the attempt to introduce decimal time was abandoned in 1795. When the metric system was expanded to include time, the second was adopted as the base unit of time. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
