Section 5.2 of the SI Brochure (and also NIST SP330) disagrees that 3 meters squared is 9 square meters. It is 3 square meters. Either construction is allowed and equivalent for areas and volumes. For units other than length, unit squared and unit cubed is required. One may not refer to square seconds, only seconds squared. The power attaches to the unit (and prefix if any), not the numeric value.
________________________________ From: Patrick Moore <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, January 14, 2011 12:22:31 PM Subject: [USMA:49514] Re: Screen size conundrum I see less ambiguity in saying "square meters": I have heard some people say things like 3 square meters = 3 meters squared. In fact 3 meters squared = 9 square meters, as you know. Thanks.
