On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, John S. Ward wrote:
> ...
> However, in daily use, I think that units like cm can be handy...

The centimeter is a "submultiple" of the meter not a "unit" in its own
right according to the BIPM Brochure.  I agree, the cm should not be
avoided in conversational use (e.g. clothing sizes)
> ...
> For starters, the SI unit of kPa is not as well suited for barometric
> pressure as the millibar.

The kilopascal is a "multiple" of the pascal, not a "unit" in its own
right.


> It feels a lot more "human" to say 1014 millibars than 101.4 kPa.

Even more "human" is to "say" 101 kilopascals.

> ...it's simpler and more convenient to say someone is 181 cm tall than
> 1810 mm.

Agreed.

> ... I think you would be crazy to suggest farmers measure, buy, and sell
> land area with 7 digit numbers of meters sqaured...

Not true for precision GPS farming.

> Metric prefixes don't work with square meters.

An alternative is "E notation" (e.g. 1.00 E 6 m^2.)

Gene.

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