Dear Bill, Tom, and All, I have remarked on the issue of the issue of preference for 'prefixes that are a power of 1000'. on many occasions, particularly with reference to millimetres and centimetres.
However, I have done so based on simple observations of how people change from old measures to metric units. If they use millimetres, the change is smooth, rapid, and orderly; if they choose centimetres, the change is rough (with much reverting backwards and converting to old measures), slow (perhaps 50 years with centimetres as opposed to 50 weeks with millimetres), and disorderly (characterised by bitter infighting between individuals and between groups). I don't regard my preference for prefixes that are powers of 1000 as: >> 'just to satisfy ... a prejudice against prefixes that aren't a power of 1000'. but as simple observations made of the metrication process in Australia. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia -- on 2004-05-22 07.14, Bill Hooper at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On 2004 May 21 , at 1:46 PM, Tom Wade VMS Systems wrote: >> Let's not try to shoehorn use >> of metric into a small subset of the available choice of prefixes and >> units > > But SI is already "prejudiced against prefixes that aren't a power of > 1000". There are 20 SI prefixes. A full 16 of them are powers of 1000; > only 4 are not. If the in-between prefixes are so mightily useful and > so darned convenient, why don't we have prefixes for ALL the powers of > ten (see my list below)? Why do so many have no prefix? > > 0.01 (deci) > 0.01 (centi) > 0.001 (milli) > 0.0001 (no prefix) > 0.000 01 (no prefix) > 0.000 001 (micro) > 0.000 0001 (no prefix) > 0.000 000 01 (nor prefix) > 0.000 000 001 (nano) > 0.000 000 0001 (no prefix) > 0.000 000 000 01 (no prefix) > etc. > and > 10 (deka) > 100 (hecto) > 1000 (kilo) > 10 000 (no prefix) > 100 000 (no prefix) > 1 000 000 (mega) > 10 000 000 (no prefix) > 100 000 000 (no prefix) > 1 000 000 000 (giga) > 10 000 000 000 (no prefix) > 100 000 000 000 (no prefix) > etc. > > Regards, > Bill Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA >
