> Of John Nichols > We could of course solve the problem of the world ie Mg by creating a new > Unit. it obviously needs a name that has a unique letter and belongs to > someone who actually made a positive contribution to the worlds maths. > > I suggest Euclid then we have the kE which is a tonne or a Mg.
I take it that you are suggesting replacing the unit 'kilogram' by 'Euclid'. Unfortunately, 'E' is currently allocated as a prefix but I think I see what you are driving at. My thoughts are as follows... Here are two important SI concepts: 1. Each quantity has a single SI unit name. 2. SI has a universal set of prefixes. As I see it, people have raised these points in criticising Mg: 1. Mg is unfamiliar, tonne is familiar. There are plenty of other examples (e.g. litre and cubic metre). Familiarity does make change difficult for those involved in the transition and we often face this argument when promoting metric instead of non-metric. However, familiarity is a transitional problem and so once the change is made, the problem decays over time. 2. The symbols for 1 000 000 (M) and 0.001 (m) are the same letter and merely a change of case. I agree that this is less than ideal. In looking at this issue across all SI prefixes, it would have been preferable if prefix symbols: a) were distinguishable by letter only b) were to use case as an additional guide such that prefixes <1 are lower case and prefixes >1 are upper case
