Metrication in Africa has a political dimension as well. Most of British Africa was decolonized in the early to mid 1960's which co-incided with the commencement of British metrication. I believe that subconsciously metrication was seen as part of the decolonization process.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 24 April 2010 19:27 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47261] Re: Metrication in Africa Pat, Here are some comments on your analysis of the blog: The choice is "What is the optimum SI *Prefix* to use for a particular application?" not "What is the choice of SI Unit for that particular application?" If one accepts that SI is superior to any other "collection of miscellaneous units," the "complete set of coherent SI Units" is already fully prescribed. Only the SI prefixes remain to be selected for various applications. We are all aware that you recommend the prefix "milli" rather than the prefix "centi" for all applications to the unit "meter" BUT the SI unit is "meter" in both cases. Others, including myself, recommend the freedom to select the prefix centi as in "centimeter" for human clothing measurements and other applications that do not require the convenience offered by the prefixes milli, micro, nano, etc. Gene. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:23:22 +1000 >From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> >Subject: [USMA:47256] Metrication in Africa >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> >Cc: USMA Metric Association <[email protected]> > > Dear All, > I just found this > page http://course-civil-engineering.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-metric-system-was-i ntroduced-in.html >... Pat's comments (not necessarily Pat's recommendations): ...choose just one single unit if you > can. > For example, > All drinks will be measured in millilitres. > All buildings will be measured in millimetres. >... > In the teaching institutions, on the other hand, the > rules were (and still are ?): > 1 Choose as many units as you possibly can. >... 2 Encourage conversion between all the metric > system units that you have chosen. Don't forget to > include all the ones you have made up.
