On Jun 18 , at 9:29 AM, Phil Hall wrote: > It seems from the choice of symbols throughout the SI that the potential use > of the same symbol for a both a prefix and a unit is, in the main, studiously > avoided. For example 'Pa' for pascal rather than just 'P' and 'cd' for > candella instead of just 'c'. There are two exceptions 'm' and 'T' (tera or > tesla). > > I did say "maybe" and didn't claim it was absolutely necessary. I merely > reflected what may have inhibited the adoption of 'K' for kilo in the light > of the general pattern
The upper case "K" for "kilo-" was rejected because the advantage of having all prefixes greater than one being capital, was not considered sufficiently important compared with the disadvantage of changing a symbol. The CGPM came down on the side of constancy rather than uniformity. The capital "K" for "kilo-" was not rejected because the kelvin unit of temperature is also a capital "K". Bill Hooper 74 kg body mass* Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA * plus or minus a kilogram or so.
