----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Stevens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 12:24 AM Subject: Re: [canals-list] Re: Boat trouble with GPS positioning
> On Wednesday, March 07, 2007 6:01 PM [GMT+1=CET], > Ken Hornstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, and should be used >> with a plural verb (like facts). However, there has been a growing >> tendency to use it as an equivalent to the uncountable noun >> information, followed by a singular verb. This is now regarded as >> generally acceptable in American use, and in the context of >> information technology. The traditional usage is still preferable, >> at least in Britain, but it may soon become a lost cause. > >> Within the context of GPS I have always seen people refer to the >> plural >> of "datum" as "datums" (e.g., http://www.gpsinformation.net); I have >> _never_ seen anyone refer to multiple GPS datums as "data". Several >> online dictionaries say for datum, "plural: data or datums", and at >> least one reference I found says "In rare instances, the plural >> datums may be used, specifically when datum refers to a reference or >> standard value". > > The problem, as I see it, is that the Latin word 'datum' with its plural > 'data' has, since its incorporartion into English, diverged into two quite > different meanings, one of which makes no sense to me. > > Being used, as a mathematician, to the use of "data" to mean a set of > numbers, I feel uncomfortable with the current use of "datum" in GPS and > allied topics. I believe this started out with the "OS Datum" which > specified that the place from which altitdue was measured by the Ordnance > Survey was the mean high water spring tide level in a specific location > (or > something like that). I was perfectly happy with that - it was a given > single item of information and I could accept "datum" as a proper word for > it. But to extend that use to call a mathematical model of the Earth's > surface a "datum" strikes me as flying in the face of linguistic sense. > It's not a datum, it's an infinite set of data with a three-dimensional > structure. > > Mike Stevens Beautifully articulated, Mike! I now realise that was my problem with it, but I am saving my brainpower and big words for something else at the moment. Dorothy
