Dear Bill and All, on 2003-06-14 14.18, Bill Potts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> The > British (for example) always leave out the space. I don't like it, but it's > not absolutely wrong. I agree with Bill. There should be a space between the number and the unit in any measurement. Let me choose the slightly more complex unit, metres per second, as an example to illustrate a few issues from the world of writing and editing. If I wrote: 6kilometrespersecond, or 6kilometresper second, or 6kilometres persecond, or 6kilometres per second, there isn't an editor, anywhere in the English speaking world, who would not correct me to produce the correct form: 6 kilometres per second. However, they are much more forgiving when it comes to symbols. I have seen the following: 6metres/second, 6metres/s, 6m/sec, 6m/s, and even 6mps replacing the correct: 6�m/s However, if I wrote these as: sixmetres/second, sixmetres/s, sixm/sec, sixm/s, and even sixmps, they would all be corrected to: six metres/second, six metres/s, six m/sec, six m/s, and even six mps, It's usual in Australia to join numbers and units together without a space. I sometimes think that this may be due to a fear by editors of having the number left on one line while the unit finds its wat to the following line � and they haven't yet found out where the non-breaking space function is placed on their keyboards. It's an odd world, where you have to out-think your editor, and their knowledge of units, at the same time as you are writing. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --
