It's because of it's common use by Brits, Martin. If some-one writes down their height they are more likely to put 5'11" than 5 ft 11 in. It's just the way English has evolved.
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [USMA:42694] Re: REALLY using the SI > Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:28:26 +0000 > > > Oops - my error > > But for some inexplicable reason the British Department for Transport use > single and double apostrophes to represent feet and inches on road signs. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Pierre Abbat > Sent: 31 January 2009 11:50 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:42685] Re: REALLY using the SI > > > On Saturday 31 January 2009 03:56:26 Martin Vlietstra wrote: > > The single apostrophe is the symbol for seconds of arc. > > No, the single prime means arc minutes. The double prime means arc seconds. > > Pierre > _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Messenger just got better .Video display pics, contact updates & more. http://www.download.live.com/messenger
