I was more concerned by one of the flash card sets on prefixes having the reciprocal of truth. Minus signs were omitted (or didn't render in my browser) in one set, misdefining all prefixes less than unity.
To your point, I don't know if their transitions were fast as it was long ago. However, essentially all European countries use the centimeter in clothes measurement, and the centiliter and/or deciliter in the beverage trade. There is a Scandinavian cooking show shown here on Public television and they give all liquid measurements in US cups and deciliters. I am absolutely of the opinion these prefixes HAVE to be taught. Perhaps not over-emphasized, but certainly taught. The SAE recommends the cubic dekameter to replace the acre-foot (with appropriate numeric multiplier, but they are in same ballpark) in agricultural irrigation. I am hard-pressed to find examples for the others, except that the hectare is 1 hm². ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, January 1, 2010 4:32:21 PM Subject: [USMA:46342] Error piled upon error Dear All, In the absence of good reliable resource material to teach about the metric system, many people are making up their own. See: http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/search.php?search=metric My main concern is the encouragement of the use of the prefixes hecto, deca (or deka), deci, and centi as the use of these has demonstrably slowed down transition to the metric system all around the world. As a challenge, can anyone point me to a successful, smooth, economical, and above all, fast transition to the metric system using any or all of these prefixes (hecto, deca, deci, and centi)? If you can I will incorporate your findings into the article at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/centimetresORmillimetres.pdf Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.
