--- Bill Hooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On 2008 Jan 28 , at 1:52 AM, Bill Potts wrote:
>
> > Meter squared implies an area in the shape of a square, with a side
> > 1 m in length.
>
> No it doesn't.
>
> "Metre squared" implies to me exactly the same thing that "square
> metre" implies; nothing more and nothing less.
>
> We learn in grade school that a term like "square metre" refers to an
> area EQUAL to the area of a 1 m by 1 m square, but that it does NOT
> mean that the area is in then SHAPE of a square.
>
> If I want to specify an area of square shape with sides 1 m long, I say:
> "A square with sides of 1 m."
It's kind of funny that all this discussion has taken place without anyone
noticing that what we
really mean is "per CUBIC meter". Liters are not a unit of area, of course.
And I happen to feel
that liters are an unavoidable simplification. A cubic meter is 1 000 000 000
cubic millimeters.
That is far, far too large a gap for practical, everyday use. My jaw would
drop if I had to buy a
container of milk labeled in exponential notation! The liter is necessary and
a good idea (unlike
the tonne, etc.).
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