Re: A weighty subject

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

At 10:19 PM -0600 10/13/99, Jim Green wrote:
> >Keep it up.  Teach your own definitions to your students.  Perhaps someday
> >they will pass their data on to NASA as a contractor.  Another crash and
> >burn.  Definitions are important for communication.  Change them through
> >appropriate means, but please use the accepted definitions until the change
> >is accepted.  If you don't know what the accepted definition is,
> then look it
> >up.  All sources I look at say the same thing.
>
> Accepted definition????!!!!!  Good grief!!!  We have spent the past few
> days trying to agree on some sort of definition.  Has everyone been paying
> attention???

If I remember correctly, about 20 years ago some 'official' US
Gummint agency (perhaps NBS or perhaps NASA) declared that the words
mass and weight were synonyms ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Is this still the case?

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Chuck Britton                                   Education is what is left when
britton@odie.ncssm.edu                          you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math         you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366  x224                            Albert Einstein,        1936