"The problem with never using radian or degree
or rotation .... is that the number then has no meaning: 2 1/s could mean 2
rotations/s,
2 degrees/s or 2 radians/s which are very different."
My response to this is I don't report a number without giving it a name. I
would say the following statements:
The angular velocity is 6.28 1/s.
The frequency is 1.00 1/s.
We have to do this with other things. For example, if I just say this comes
out to 123 newton.meters what am I talking about? Energy? Maybe... but
maybe I'm talking about torque. If I am talking energy, is it kinetic,
spring, etc.?
In other words, if a number and its units could imply various meanings, I
would rather discern the meaning from a direct statement of what the number
represents. I don't think we should have to attempt to figure out what the
number means by looking at its units.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817