Dear Ezra and All, I guess that I converted 2 degrees centigrade to degrees Fahrenheit without considering the minus sign before the 2.
I expect that you might do the same thing when it has been twenty or more years since you've seen the word Fahrenheit, and more than thirty years since you've seen the word centigrade. And maybe much longer since you've done a conversion between the two of them. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia -- on 7/3/04 4:35 PM, Ezra Steinberg at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Dear Pat: > > Hmmm, I thought minus two degrees Centigrade [sic] was equivalent to 28 > degrees Fahrenheit. > > What happened??? > > Cheers, > Ezra > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pat Naughtin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Mar 6, 2004 1:01 PM > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [USMA:29078] Temperature > > Dear Radio Netherlands, > > This morning as I listened to your weather report, in Geelong, Australia, I > was struck by the fact that you gave a temperature as 'minus two degrees > centigrade -- that's 36 degrees Fahrenheit'. > > Here, in Australia, we use the international standard, degrees Celsius, when > we refer to temperature, so the expression degrees centigrade jars on our > ears. We understand that the term, degrees centigrade, has been officially > deprecated by the Conference General de Poids et Mesures (CGPM) since 1948. > (see > http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/appendix1/decisions_base_units/decisio > ns_temperature.html ) I quote: > > 'CIPM, 1948 (PV, 21 , 88) and 9th CGPM, 1948, Resolution 7 : adoption of > "degree Celsius" > 'From three names ("degree centigrade", "centesimal degree", "degree > Celsius") proposed to denote the degree of temperature, the CIPM has chosen > "degree Celsius". > 'This name is also adopted by the 9th CGPM'. > > I suppose that your on-air staff are doing conversions to degrees Fahrenheit > assuming that they are pandering to listeners in the USA. The USA officially > deprecates the use of degrees Fahrenheit in favor of degrees Celsius (see > http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB8.html#D ). I quote: > > 'Caution : The units listed in column�1 are in general not to be used in > NIST publications, with the exception of those few in italic type. > ... > degree Fahrenheit (temperature) (�F) degree Celsius (�C) > t/�C�=�( t/�F�-� 32)/1.8 > ... > Note: degree Fahrenheit is not listed in italic type. > > 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] > * Pat Naughtin is recognised by the United States metric Association as a > Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS). > -- > >
