Re: Zero with units?

[James Frysinger <frysingerj@COFC.EDU>]

On Monday 20 September 2004 08:50, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
> A good reminder of what significant figures are for.
> But how is this aspect of reporting an experimental
> result connected with the issue of adding or not
> adding "volt" after the number?
>
> By the way, we say one volt and two volts. What
> about 1.5? Is it singular or plural?
> Ludwik Kowalski

        Many people adopt the style of using singular form for quantities whose
numerical value is 1 or less (in absolute value) and plural for more than 1
(in absolute value). Some are quite adamant about that view. I'm not one of
them.

        The CGPM/CIPM folks do not care; those are language-dependent issues. All
they will say is that the formation of the plural for unit names follows the
rules of that language. I figure that I have bigger and better things to
worry about than that when I review standards but I sometimes comment if the
document shows internal inconsistencies in its use of singular or plural. By
then I figure I'm into grammar and out of SI. Which do you prefer?:
        0.7 egg         0.7 eggs
        1    egg                1    eggs
        1.0 egg         1.0 eggs
        1.5 egg         1.5 eggs

        I wouldn't be surprised to find that a lot of people think that it sounds
better as "1 egg and 1.0 eggs"!

Jim

--
James R. Frysinger
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Senior Member, IEEE

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