Again, Brij, please understand though, that it would be *practically impossible* for one to be successful at convincing authorities, people, etc, to change BOTH the metre AND the second! It just WON'T happen! We've been able to live with the "inaccuracies" associated with the concept behind the meter, so, we *really* DON'T need fixing that! And going through all this trouble to just fix the inner workings of the minute and the hour is NOT worth it either!
If we want to be successful at changing time and calendar we need to do it in a way that will render them **operationally** attractive to nearly all segments of society. There certainly is a very strong case against changing time now, *UNLESS* the benefits of the new model can be *proven* to supersede the cons of keeping the status quo. And I honestly cannot see your proposal (keeping the 24-h value, shortening of the second to a whopping 36% of its current value, lengthening of the meter by a sizable 11%, etc) as fulfilling this objective (sorry, Brij, for being this blunt...). And this is mostly because of two things, 24 is NOT decimal and also changing the meter would basically send the current SI system into the garbage bin... Marcus On Fri, 19 Jul 2002 22:38:17 Brij Bhushan Vij wrote: >I thank you Joe for the information and history behind, mathematical tables. >I wonder if you appreciate the difficulties that I foresee to make Calendar >and Time reform to be: 'surest, cheapest and least cost effective'. Thus, >the evolution of Leap Week Rule, Day to remain of 24-Hours and NOT changing >the 'Sabbath Cycle'. Just, by *decimalization of the HOUR and 'linking' with >DEGREE; can do the required wonder. > Use of NUMBER 60 has been stuck to our minds for ages because of its >divisibility by as many as 10 numbers; but 10 does not provide this ease! >And, then the concerns of *astronomers and mathematicians*. > The word is GO METRIC 'not decimal only'; so need to define Decimal second >as 36% and Metre to be longer by 111.2% and ALL 'derived units and >quantities can be re-valued using directly or their reciprocals as >multiplication and division factors. >Brij Bhushan Vij > > >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Joseph B. Reid) >>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>Subject: [USMA:21261] Re: Unit for Speed >>Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 11:46:55 -0400 >> >>John Kilopascal asked in USMA 21251: >> >> >I wonder if there is an intended relationship in the 400 grad circle and >>the >> >40 000 km circumference of the earth. Thus, if the earth were divided >>into >> >gradians, then each gradian would be equal to 100 km and each >>centigradian >> >would be 1 km, etc.. >> > >> >It seems the use of gradians instead of degrees would eliminate the need >>for >> >the 1852 m nautical mile and create a more rational relationship between >>the >> >gradian and the metre, at least as far as navigation is concerned. >> >> >>Gaspard Clair Frangois Marie Riche de Prony (1755-1839) was given the job >>of calculating new tables for use with the metric system. He was appalled >>by the task until he picked up a copy of "The Wealth of Nations" in which >>Adam Smith described how the productivity of a pin factory was improved by >>the division of labor. He organized the calculation of the tables in three >>levels: a small group of mathematicians to develop formulas, a larger group >>of computers (human) to calculate a skeleton of key values, and the largest >>group of workers who were required to fill in the individual entries by >>interpolation between the key values. >> >>In 1822 Charles Babbage in Cambridge while considering the inaccuracies in >>published mathematical tables decided that the job of calculating >>mathematical tables should be done by machine. He then invented the >>difference engine. This led to the design of the computing engine, the >>first programmed computer. He never completed it because he kept thinking >>of improvements. However, Ada, Countess Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, >>wrote programs for it. The U.S. Department of Defense honored her by >>giving the name of "Ada" to its computer language. >> >>Joseph B.Reid >>17 Glebe Road West >>Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 >> > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > > Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
