It may depend on which metric style guide you use. However, NIST SP 811 says no hyphen, even when used in adjectival sense. It is item #10 in their checklist and discussed in section 7.2. The "space, not hyphen" rule is specific to using a unit symbol. If you spelled out the word, the hyphen is permitted, "180-millimeter industrial panel-mount unit" would be OK.
--- On Fri, 8/7/09, Jim Elwell <[email protected]> wrote: From: Jim Elwell <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:45538] Metric Style Question To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, August 7, 2009, 11:47 AM #yiv1852300540 p {margin:0;} My grammar checker keeps trying to get me to hyphenate a metric unit of measure when used as an adjective (apparently seeing the number and the unit as a compound adjective). I wrote: "put all those resources into a 180 mm industrial panel-mount unit" And it suggests "put all those resources into a 180-mm industrial panel-mount unit" I thought I was quite familiar with metric style, but I am not sure about this one. Can anyone shed some light on it? Thanks! Jim -- ********************** Jim Elwell [email protected] 801-466-8770 www.qsicorp.com
