You could have suggested Zimbabwean dollars! A colleague of mine had a billion Zimbabwean dollar note pinned above his desk. I measured it, check the price of computer printing paper at our local PC shop and guess what - it was not worth the paper it was printed on!
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Frysinger Sent: 30 March 2013 02:53 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52577] Re: FW: Question about number sense- is this the correct term? I used to make that point by asking my physics students for volunteers to paint my house the next summer for the sum of 100 000, to be divided by the entire crew. Most males and some females would raise their hands. Usually a student would finally ask, "100 000 what?". If not, I asked the question. I would then tell them that I meant 100 000 Italian lira and then would state the equivalent number of dollars. (At today's conversion rates that comes out to roughly $66.) All the hands would drop quickly as I asked them if units were important. Jim -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108 On 2013-03-29 15:53, JohnAltounji wrote: > You are right. A number should always be attached to its unit, unless > it does not have one. I had a professor who us used to say: "No units > no value, to the trash" > > John Altounji > > One size does not fit all. > Social promotion ruined Education. > > *From:*[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On > Behalf Of *Team Metric Info > *Sent:* Friday, March 29, 2013 11:36 AM > *To:* U.S. Metric Association > *Subject:* [USMA:52574] Question about number sense- is this the > correct term? > > I am writing up a case study about a triage nurse who incorrectly > recorded a toddler's weight as 25 kg, instead of 25 lbs (11.3kg). The > weight error caused the toddler to receive 225 mg of clindamycin > orally three times a day, instead of the correct dosage of 113 mg > orally three times a day. Dosage was calculated for a toddler > weighing 25kg instead of their actual weight of 11.3kg. Read the full > case study at http://webmm.ahrq.gov/case.aspx?caseID=293. > > None of the other ER staff (who were different from the triage nurse) > caught the error. To me this is an example of another issue most > American's have with SI units- a lack of number sense! At least that > is what I have been calling it. I am trying to clearly state that most > Americans even in the healthcare field do not intuitively understand > metric units. So even looking directly at the same toddler none of the > other ER staff thought no way this kid is 25kg. > > A related thing happened to my son recently, during an allergy > appointment at children's hospital here, he got on the scale and it > said 10kg. My son is over 3 ft tall and weighs about 45lbs. My husband > told the nurse, there is no way he weighs 10kg. The nurse replied, > "that is what the scale said"- so he reminded her of the 2.2 > conversion and she agreed. Turns out the digital scale was broken, but > my point and how this story relates to the other story is that the > nurse did not have a "number sense" of what 10kg would look like. She > was looking directly at my son. > > *Group- do you think the term "number sense" is correct in this context? > Because it is not really the number but the unit attached to it > which they do not intuitively understand. * > > ** > > *Any thoughts would be appreciated* >
