Yes, Bill, from a stylistic viewpoint I agree with you completely. I had apparently misunderstood Euric to mean that this was part of SI, e.g., like the rules outlined in chapter 5 of the SI brochure.
On Sunday 25 April 2004 10:47, Bill Hooper wrote: > On 2004 Apr 24 , at 7:36 PM, J. Ward wrote: > > Are you quite certain that unit symbols should only be used after > > numbers? I > > would appreciate it if you could point out where this is documented. > > I think this is as much good written style as it is a "rule" of SI. > Generally symbols and abbreviations are used only in specific > situations, not as general replacements for words in ordinary > sentences. Perhaps I can illustrate this best with a series of > examples. > > Just as you should write: > > "I went to see the doctor today", NOT "I went to see the Dr. today"; and > "The value of the dollar has declined", NOT "The value of the $ has > declined"; and > "There are palm trees at the Florida border", NOT "There are palm trees > at the FL border"; and > "He continued down the street", NOT "He cont'd down the street", > (or worse yet "He cont'd dn the st."); ... > > ... so also, you should write: > > "This is a kilogram scale", NOT "This is a kg scale"; and > "How many centimetres long is that?", NOT "How many cm long is that?"; > and > "Volts are the units of electric potential", NOT "V are the units of > electric potential"; and > "The satellite's altitude is hundreds of kilometres", NOT "The > satellite's altitude is hundreds of km", > (or worse yet, "The satellite's alt. is 100's of km."). > > The following are PROPER uses of the abbreviations and symbols used in > the examples above: > > "Good morning, Dr. Becker." (title as part of a name) > "That costs $25." (dollar sign used with numbers) > "He lives in Miami, FL". (state abbreviation used as part of an address) > " ... and the police said the driver was not at fault, but they had to > (cont'd pg. 5)" (at end of a page) > > and > > "There were 10 kg of potatoes in that sack." (with numbers) > "That is 125 cm long." (with numbers) > "The potential between the poles of that motor is 12 V too high." (with > numbers) > "The satellite's altitude is 250 km or perhaps more." (with numbers) > > > Regards, > Bill Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA > <><><><><><><><><><><><> > Make it simple; Make it Metric > <><><><><><><><><><><><>
