Re: [USMA:25961] my German friend never heard of SIIn fact the Giorgi
system, MKSA and SI are compatible. Giorgi laid the foundations for SI by
using the kilogram as the unit of mass, then came MKS and MKSA, extensions
to Giorgi's system, and in 1900 came the latest version, SI. Just like
Windows versions are upwards compatible.
The system dating from 1875 used the kilogram as the unit of force,
therefore it was called the MKgfS system. Another name was the Technical
metric system.
Yet another metric system was the MTS, Metre-Tonne-Second system. The metric
ton was the unit of mass. It has been used by the railways in France and The
Netherlands. I have seen dials in the 'cockpits' of older engines or trains,
which have gone to the scrap heap since, which showed MTS units like the
pieze and the sthene. The thermie, 10 000 kcal, was also an MTS unit.
I think that most general citizens here do not know what SI means, to them
what we use is simply the metric system.
Han
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Naughtin
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Sunday, 2003-06-08 4:07
Subject: [USMA:25974] Re: my German friend never heard of SI
Dear Paul,
I don't think that there are many in the Australian community who have much
understanding of the symbol SI.
Personally, whenever I feel that SI is the best term to use, I spell out the
either English translation at the first mention or sometimes the English
translation and the original French, and then use SI through the remainder
of the document.
It depends on my perception of my audience. If I feel that it will help
readers to understand my writing, I sometimes use 'The International System
of Units (SI) - the modern metric system' at the first mention, and then use
the symbol SI.
To use the expression 'the metric system' on its own has a number of
problems, not least of which is the range of 'metric systems' available to
us from history. When we say 'metric system' we might be referring to the
original decimal metric system (circa 1795), the cgs metric system (circa
1863), the mks metric system (circa 1875), the Giorgi metric system (1901),
the mksA metric system (1948/1950), or the Syst�me International d'Unit�s SI
(1960).
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin LCAMS
Geelong, Australia
on 2003/06/08 04.43, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
For just about as long as I've been following this list, I have had a German
pen pal in Berlin. Last week, I sent her something I had written, and it was
peppered with the acronym "SI". She, a music teacher and a lifelong
European, wrote back to me asking what "SI" stood for, and of course,I
replied with an explanation
She is only one person, but it got me to thinking---is the acronym familiar
to most people who use that measurement system?
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122
Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
432-694-6208
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"There are two cardinal sins, from which all the others spring: impatience
and laziness."
---Franz Kafka
