On Sun, 27 Oct 2002 19:33:52 Carl Sorenson wrote: ... >The liter is explicitly allowed for use because it is such a useful unit (as >well as entrenched). Without it, we would need to give a special name to >the cubic meter and buy soft drinks in thousandths or millionths of the >unit. It would work, but it isn't that important to maintain theoretical >perfection. It is simply better (more practical) for everyday use to define >the liter as a cubic decimeter. At any rate, it is unquestionably metric, >and it won't be abandoned or changed. >... Interesting thought. However, one needs to recognize that the issue of "superior powers" (2 or higher) is a *mathematical* difficulty that "plagues" EVERY system. What I mean is that the "practical" aspects of dealing with "sub-units" of the... "most popular" unit, like the dm3, can ONLY be properly "resolved", realistically, if one comes up with "nicknames" for them.
However, given the history of the development of the SI system one also needs to recognize that we've come up with 4 "intermediary" prefixes (outside of the engineering increments of 3) in order to try to address these difficulties. And now, apparently, one could potentially theoretically be able to successfully defend the introduction of yet a 3rd one (+ or - 4) to more properly address more shortcomings inherent to this "mathematical reality" I spoke of above. This can evidently be attributed to the natural progress one makes in the development of science itself. Therefore, in conclusion, what I want to say is that theorists/purists should not feel bothered if one comes up with convenient nicknames for such situations like the are, liter, "typo" (ty - the unit I suggested for typographers a few months/years back and equal to 100 micrometer)... In the end it seems that one should bow/yield to practicality concerns and accommodate such idiosyncrasies. Marcus ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
