Life is hard without centi- and deci- and the like when one is working in
square or cubic
dimensions, especially if you also don't like liters.
"How come this bottle only has one million, seven hundred fifty thousand cubic
millimeters and
that one is one million eight?"
versus
"How come this tank only has one point seven five cubic decimeters and that one
is one point
eight?"
Please remember that the factor between adjacent units without using the
bastard prefixes is only
a thousand for one-dimensional units but it is a jaw-dropping billion for 3D
units!
--- Richard M <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Let's not forget that 'deci' and 'hecto' isn't quite part of the archaic
> past either, not with hectares in use and deciliters common in the medical
> field. Many of the lab test I perform are reported out in something like
> g/dL or mg/dL or µg/dL. We tend to not use the litre, or the more SI pure
> square meter.
>
> The centimeter also seems to be enshrined as the unit of choice for patient
> heights, at least where I work. You get the patient height from the patient
> in feet and inches, then you convert it to inches, and then you convert the
> inches to some horribly over precise number of centimeters...like
> 173.24cm. I hate seeing patient heights listed to a hundredth of a
> centimeter.
>
> Richard, MT (AAB)
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 4:55 PM, Bill Hooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > <SNIP>
> >
> > If we could get rid of centimeters we'd have virtually eliminated the
> > "centi-" prefix. It would be an archaic part of the metric system like
> > "deci-", "hecto-" and "deka-". Then we might succeed in getting rid of all
> > four of them and have just the nice round steps of 1000.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Bill Hooper
> > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
> >
> > ==========================
> > SImplification Begins With SI.
> > ==========================
> >
> >
> >
>
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