2000-12-13
It's funny you brought this up as I was recently thinking about this. We
feel that the public should embrace metric on its decimal nature because our
money is decimally based. But is it really? Yes, we may write money in the
format of "4.37", but do we don't say four point three seven dollars; we say
4 dollars AND thirty seven cents. Americans say it and understand it like
they do feet and inches. Just like we would say 4 feet and 37 inches.
There is no difference in the spoken and understood formats. Look at how we
write checks. We write it as FOUR AND 37/100 DOLLARS. We have to get the
fractions in there somehow. Some people even read decimals as fractions.
7.575 would be read not as seven point five seven five, but as 7 AND five
hundred seventy five thousandths. It is read as a fraction, not as a
decimal.
As for this technician, this revelation should be brought to her superiors.
She can put someone's life in danger. If she has no clue as to the
structure of SI, can not convert grams to its submultiples and back, she is
libel to make a serious mistake. How does she handle micrograms vs.
milligrams. How does she calculate dosage based on grams per kilogram of
body mass? You have the responsibility to make a big noise. If you don't
say something to someone, you are part of the problem and may also be held
liable for her error. Don't let this one ride.
And, why do I have this feeling that if this technician was male, this
technician would know the structure of SI?
John
Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrt�mlich glaubt
frei zu sein.
There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
are free!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Paul Trusten
Sent: Wednesday, 2000-12-13 18:10
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:9730] thinking decimally
The other day, I noticed something at work which suggested to me part of
the problem with the US and metrication: we Americans lack mental
facility in thinking decimally.
Looking at the expression $0.25, I wonder how many of us just say
"twenty five cents" without trying to move any decimal points around.
This came up when one of the pharmacy technicians asked me why I put
"0.55 gram" on a certain label. I replied that I try to keep the data on
the label similar to the data from the medication order itself (the
doctor had ordered the drug in GRAMS, and 0.55 g was an appropriate
dose), but, yes, I could just as easily have labeled the product "550
mg". The technician didn't like "0.55 gram", saying she would "have
trouble converting" to milligrams! We are creatures of habit, not
wanting to accept a mathematical convenience when presented with one.
--
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122
Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"No one from the Audubon Society has yet documented the
finding of a modified barium swallow."
--Byrd Ona Wyng, Forensic Ornithologist
"Free Billy Rubin!" ---Medical Technologists' protest cry
