Martin Vlietstra proposes a new British technical keyboard that includes non-breaking spaces and some common characters used for metric symbols. In his proposal, he considered various categories of user and using the restriction of inline Unicode characters, has proposed a keyboard that will not only handle all the characters needed by SI, but will also handle many of the characters needed for chemical formulae, and includes Greek characters such as ‘π’, ‘θ’ and other commonly used symbols from mathematics and physics including ‘×’, ‘÷’ and ‘±’. He uses the standard British keyboard as the basis for his proposal and explains how a lot of new characters can be supported using key combinations with the Alt Gr key. It covers a lot more than the extra characters for the correct display of metric symbols.
Continue reading “Proposal for a British Technical Keyboard”Category: Technical
NASA Voyager 2 reports make poor use of the metric system
In the first half of August 2023, there were reports about NASA accidentally losing contact with the Voyager 2 spacecraft after sending the wrong command and later reports about regaining contact a few days later. Distances of spacecraft from Earth were expressed in billions of kilometres (as well as billions of miles). One thing that NASA and the media ignored is that the common prefixes of the metric system for the extremely large and the extremely small make the use of astronomical numbers unnecessary unlike the imperial system. This is one big advantage that the metric system has over the imperial system.
Continue reading “NASA Voyager 2 reports make poor use of the metric system”Government accepts CE mark indefinitely in nod to common standards
From the end of 2024, the British Government was planning to impose a requirement for goods to carry a new UK-only UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark. Manufacturers who used to need only a conformité européenne (CE) mark for all European countries would have had to meet separate safety standards for the UKCA mark just for the UK and a CE mark for the rest of Europe. After opposition from industry, the Government has backed down and decided to allow the European Union’s CE mark for the UK market indefinitely in a nod to the need for common standards. Will the Government accept the same logic for the use of the common global measurement system known as SI, the modern metric system?
Continue reading “Government accepts CE mark indefinitely in nod to common standards”Space dilemmas for writing metric symbols and thousands separators
The BIPM’s SI brochure states “The numerical value always precedes the unit and a space is always used to separate the unit from the number.” and says that the space, not a comma or a dot, shall be used for the thousands separator. There are several space characters in computing, but the brochure does not state what kind of space you should use when typing. Ideally, you would use a non-breaking space to ensure that no line break separates the numerical value from the unit. Users face the same issue when using a space for the thousands separator.
Continue reading “Space dilemmas for writing metric symbols and thousands separators”One proposed solution to improve writing of metric symbols
In the third of the series of articles on writing metric symbols, I propose a practical solution to improve the writing of metric symbols. My solution addresses one major source of metric symbol errors that I identified in my previous article.
Continue reading “One proposed solution to improve writing of metric symbols”Too many take the easy way out when writing metric symbols
Following the previous article about the limited impact of UKMA’s Metric Style Guide and the widespread mistakes in writing metric symbols, we look at one major source of these mistakes. Too many avoid the use of awkward characters that cannot be found on a standard keyboard and end up writing metric symbols incorrectly.
Continue reading “Too many take the easy way out when writing metric symbols”Metric Style Guide – has it had any effect?
Despite the best efforts of UKMA to promote correct usage, the writing of metric symbols leaves much to be desired. Former UKMA Chair Robin Paice reflects on the impact of the UKMA’s Metric Style Guide since its publication, evaluates other style guides, comments on the teaching of measurement units in schools and makes suggestions for UKMA’s committee to improve the situation.
Continue reading “Metric Style Guide – has it had any effect?”The central role of the metric system in the UK National Measurement System
In December 2022, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a report called “UK Measurement Strategy for the National Measurement System”. It describes the importance of measurement in our everyday lives but says little about the central role of the metric system in the UK National Measurement System (NMS). In fact, it barely mentions it.
Continue reading “The central role of the metric system in the UK National Measurement System”Indestructible metric standards
All seven base units in the metric system are based on constants of nature. This means that they can never be destroyed. The seven SI base units are the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela. All other SI units are derived from these base units. Hence, they are called SI derived units. Anyone with the right laboratory equipment and expertise can reproduce any of these base units. The problem with tying units to physical objects is that they can be destroyed, and they tend to degrade over time.
Continue reading “Indestructible metric standards”Limitations of body-based measurements
The Daily Mail recently published an article on University of Helsinki research about the merits of body-based measurements. The article says that they are easily accessible, enable us to make approximate measurements and give us valuable insights into the history of measurement. However, body parts do not make good measuring devices because everyone is different and even tailors use tape measures. The historical use of body-based measurements led to the proliferation of different handspans, cubits, feet and inches. This caused problems for international trade and co-operation.
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Metric Views 