The term "metric" is old (I do not know how old) from Greek. It means
measure.
France had many systems of measure, that is, metric systems. Each local
government had its own metric system. The national government of France made
up
one system of measures, specified to be decimal. So we have in French
history the
creation of not just a metric system but a decimal metric system. We, being
sloppy, have dropped the "decimal". We need to say "decimal" more often.
In SI 10 page 60, about the history of SI the second word is "decimal".
Robert H Bushnell 00-12-20
