On Monday 17 January 2011 09:09:24 John M. Steele wrote: > I absolutely agree it is a permitted construction; however it strikes me as > clear that 2 square meters and 2 meters squared are equivalent and that > both mean 2 m², neither means 4 m² (a 2 m x 2 m square). The text clearly > says the name of the unit is raised to a power in both cases. It does NOT > say the numeric value is raised to the power in either case. In English > only, there is an exception allowed to place square or cubic ahead of a > unit of length. It is important that it mean the same thing as the other > allowed construction and the same thing as the symbol when expanded to > words in other languages.
I understand "2 meters squared" or "a two-meter square" to mean a 2 m × 2 m square, and "2 square meters" to be 2 m² regardless of shape. However, in French or Spanish "2 metros cuadrados / mètres carrés" is 2 m², and "un carré de 2 mètres / un cuadrado de 2 metros" is a 2 m × 2 m square. But English is not the only language in which adjectives usually precede nouns, nor are French and Spanish the only ones in which they follow. How would you say them in German? Pierre -- lo ponse be lo mruli po'o cu ga'ezga roda lo ka dinko
