Writing with SI (Metric) Units

SP 811 provides an editorial checklist for reviewing manuscripts' conformity with the SI and
the basic principles of physical quantities and units.

Prefixes
Some of the metric units listed above include prefixes such as kilo, centi, and milli. Prefixes,
added to a unit name, create larger or smaller units by factors that are powers of 10. For
example, add the prefix kilo, which means a thousand, to the unit gram to indicate 1000
grams; thus 1000 grams become 1 kilogram.

Spelling
All units and prefixes should be spelled as shown in this guide.

Conversions
Conversions should follow a rule of reason: do not use more significant digits than justified
by the precision of the original data. For example, 36 inches should be converted to 91
centimeters, not 91.44 centimeters (36 inches x 2.54 centimeters per inch = 91.44
centimeters), and 40.1 inches converts to 101.9 centimeters, not 101.854.

Capitals

Units: The names of all units start with a lower case letter except, of course, at the
beginning of the sentence. There is one exception: in "degree Celsius" (symbol C)
the unit "degree" is lower case but the modifier "Celsius" is capitalized. Thus, body
temperature is written as 37 degrees Celsius.
Symbols: Unit symbols are written in lower case letters except for liter and those units
derived from the name of a person (m for meter, but W for watt, Pa for pascal, etc.).
Prefixes: Symbols of prefixes that mean a million or more are capitalized and those
less than a million are lower case (M for mega (millions), m for milli (thousandths)).

Plurals

Units: Names of units are made plural only when the numerical value that precedes
them is more than one. For example, 0.25 liter or 1/4 liter, but 250 milliliters. Zero
degrees Celsius is an exception to this rule.
Symbols: Symbols for units are never pluralized (250 mm = 250 millimeters).

Pronunciation
The pronunciation of common metric units is well known, except for pascal, which rhymes
with rascal, and hectare, which rhymes with bare. The first syllable of every prefix is
accented, not the second syllable. Example: KILL-oh-meter, not kil-LOM-meter.

Incorrect Terms
The prefix "kilo" stands for one thousand of the named unit. It is not a stand-alone term in the
metric system. The most common misuse of this is the use of "kilo" for a "kilogram" of
something. The word "micron" is an obsolete term for the quantity "micrometer." Also
"degree centigrade" is no longer the correct unit term for temperature in the metric system; it
has been replaced by degree Celsius.

Spacing
A space is used between the number and the symbol to which it refers. For example: 7 m,
31.4 kg, 37 C.
When a metric value is used as a one-thought modifier before a noun, hyphenating the
quantity is not necessary. However, if a hyphen is used, write out the name of the metric
quantity with the hyphen between the numeral and the quantity. For example:
a 2-liter bottle, NOT a 2-L bottle;
a 100-meter relay, NOT a 100-m relay;
35-millimeter film, NOT 35-mm film

Spaces are not used between prefixes and unit names nor between prefix symbols and unit
symbols. Examples: milligram, mg; kilometer, km.

Period
DO NOT use a period with metric unit names and symbols except at the end of a sentence.

Decimal Point
The dot or period is used as the decimal point within numbers. In numbers less than one, zero
should be written before the decimal point. Examples: 7.038 g; 0.038 g.
Note: This information is published as NIST LC 1137, Metric Style Guide for the News
Media. To request a hard copy, please contact the Metric Program.

Time
The SI unit of time (actually time interval) is the second (s) and should be used in all
technical calculations. When time relates to calendar cycles, the minute (min), hour (h), and
day (d) might be necessary. For example, the kilometer per hour (km/h) is the usual unit for
expressing vehicular speeds.
For More Detail:
Detailed metric information and precise conversions are available in NIST SP 811 and SP
1038 PDF. SP 811 also provides an editorial checklist for reviewing manuscripts conformity
with SI and the basic principles of physical quantities and units. It is available by calling the
NIST Metric Program at (301) 975-3690 or email.

International Paper Sizes

The International System of Units (SI) is about measuring the weight or dimensions of
objects, not changing their sizes. The U.S. paper industry uses several customary paper
formats that all have metric dimensions. Any object weighed or measured using the SI has a
metric size (e.g., a typical page of office paper is 215 mm by 280 mm), just as the same
object measured using customary units has a size (8.5 in by 11 in). While the standardization
of sizes provides some benefits by simplifying things, the process of standardization is
independent of the system of measurement.
Date created: January 13, 2010 | Last updated: April 11, 2012
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the U.S.
Department of Commerce.
http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/writing-metric.cfm

Writing unit symbols and the values of quantities

Before 1948, the writing of metric quantities was haphazard. In 1879, the CIPM published
recommendations for writing the symbols for length, area, volume and mass, but it was
outside its domain to publish recommendations for other quantities. Beginning in about 1900,
physicists who had been using the symbol "" for "micrometre" (or "micron"), "" for
"microlitre", and "" for "microgram" started to use the symbols "m", "L" and "g", but it
was only in 1935, a decade after the revision of the Metre Convention that the CIPM formally
adopted this proposal and recommended that the symbol "" be used universally as a prefix
for 106.[40]
In 1948, the ninth CGPM approved the first formal recommendation for the writing of
symbols in the metric system when the basis of the rules as they are now known was laid
down.[41] These rules were subsequently extended by International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and now
cover unit symbols and names, prefix symbols and names, how quantity symbols should be
written and used and how the values of quantities should be expressed.[21]:104,130 Both ISO and
the IEC have published rules for the presentation of SI units that are generally compatible
with those published in the SI Brochure.[42] As of August 2013 ISO and IEC were in the

process of merging their standards for quantities and units into a single set of compatible
documents identified as the ISO/IEC 80000 Standard. The rules covering printing of
quantities and units are part of ISO 80000-1:2009.[43]

Unit names
Names of units follow the grammatical rules associated with common nouns: in English and
in French they start with a lowercase letter (e.g., newton, hertz, pascal), even when the
symbol for the unit begins with a capital letter. This also applies to "degrees Celsius", since
"degree" is the unit.[44][45] In German, however, the names of units, as with all German nouns,
start with capital letters.[46] The spelling of unit names is a matter for the guardians[Note 8] of the
language concerned the official British and American spellings for certain SI units differ
British English uses the spelling deca-, metre, and litre whereas American English uses the
spelling deka-, meter, and liter, respectively.[47]
Likewise, the plural forms of units follow the grammar of the language concerned: in
English, the normal rules of English grammar are used, e.g. "henries" is the plural of "henry".
[48][31]:31
However, the units lux, hertz, and siemens have irregular plurals in that they remain
the same in both their singular and plural form.
In English, when unit names are combined to denote multiplication of the units concerned,
they are separated with a hyphen or a space (e.g. newton-metre or newton metre). The plural
is formed by converting the last unit name to the plural form (e.g. ten newton-metres).

Chinese and Japanese

Chinese expressway distances road sign in eastern Beijing. Although the primary
text is in Chinese, the distances use the internationally recognised numerals and
symbols.

Chinese uses traditional logograms for writing the unit names, while in Japanese unit names
are written in the phonetic katakana script; in both cases symbols are written using the
internationally recognised Latin and Greek characters.
Japanese

A set of characters representing various metric units was created in Japan in the late 19th
century. Characters exist for three base units: the metre (), litre () and gram (). These
were combined with a set of six prefix characters kilo- (), hecto- (), deca- (), deci(), centi- () and milli- () to form an additional 18 single-character units. The seven
length units (kilometre to millimetre), for example, are , , , , , and . These
characters, however, are not in common use today; instead, units are written out in katakana,
the Japanese syllabary used for foreign borrowings, such as kiromtoru for
"kilometer". A few Sino-Japanese words for these units remain in use in Japanese, most
significantly heibei "square meter", but otherwise borrowed pronunciations are used.
These characters are examples of the rare phenomenon of single-character loan words a
foreign word represented by a single Japanese character and form the plurality of such
words. Similar characters were also coined for other units, such as British units, though these

also have fallen out of use; see Single character gairaigo: Metric units and Single character
gairaigo: Other units for a full list.
Chinese

The basic units are metre ( m), litre ( shng), gram ( k), and second ( mio), while
others include watt ( w). Prefixes include deci- ( fn), centi- ( l), milli- ( ho),
micro- ( wi), and kilo- ( qin). These are combined to form disyllabic characters, such
as lm 'centimeter' or qinw 'kilowatt'.[49] In the 19th century various compound
characters were also used, similar to Japanese, either imported or formed on the same
principles, such as for qinw (kilowatt) or for . These are generally not used
today for example centimetres is usually written lm but are occasionally found in
older or technical writing.[50]

Unit symbols and the values of quantities

Although the writing of unit names is language-specific, the writing of unit symbols and the
values of quantities is consistent across all languages and therefore the SI Brochure has
specific rules in respect of writing them.[21]:130135 The guideline produced by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)[51] clarifies language-specific areas in respect of
American English that were left open by the SI Brochure, but is otherwise identical to the SI
Brochure.[48]
General rules

General rules[Note 9] for writing SI units and quantities apply to text that is either handwritten or
produced using an automated process:

The value of a quantity is written as a number followed by a space

(representing a multiplication sign) and a unit symbol; e.g., 2.21 kg,
7.3102 m2, 22 K. This rule explicitly includes the percent sign (%) [21]:134
and the symbol for degrees of temperature (C). [21]: 133 Exceptions are the
symbols for plane angular degrees, minutes, and seconds (, , and ),
which are placed immediately after the number with no intervening space.
Symbols are mathematical entities, not abbreviations, and as such do not
have an appended period/full stop (.), unless the rules of grammar
demand one for another reason, such as denoting the end of a sentence.
A prefix is part of the unit, and its symbol is prepended to the unit symbol
without a separator (e.g., k in km, M in MPa, G in GHz). Compound prefixes
are not allowed.
Symbols for derived units formed by multiplication are joined with a centre
dot () or a non-breaking space; e.g., Nm or N m.
Symbols for derived units formed by division are joined with a solidus (/),
or given as a negative exponent. E.g., the "metre per second" can be
written m/s, m s1, ms1, or m/s. Only one solidus should be used; e.g., kg/
(ms2) and kgm1s2 are acceptable, but kg/m/s2 is ambiguous and
unacceptable.

Acceleration due to gravity.

Note the lowercase letters (neither "metres" nor "seconds" were named after
people), the space between the value and the units, and the superscript "2" to
denote "squared".

The first letter of symbols for units derived from the name of a person is
written in upper case; otherwise, they are written in lower case. E.g., the

unit of pressure is named after Blaise Pascal, so its symbol is written "Pa",
but the symbol for mole is written "mol". Thus, "T" is the symbol for tesla,
a measure of magnetic field strength, and "t" the symbol for tonne, a
measure of mass. Since 1979, the litre may exceptionally be written using
either an uppercase "L" or a lowercase "l", a decision prompted by the
similarity of the lowercase letter "l" to the numeral "1", especially with
certain typefaces or English-style handwriting. The American NIST
recommends that within the United States "L" be used rather than "l".

Symbols of units do not have a plural form; e.g., 25 kg, not 25 kgs.

Uppercase and lowercase prefixes are not interchangeable. E.g., the

quantities 1 mW and 1 MW represent two different quantities; the former
is the typical power requirement of a hearing aid (1 milliwatt or 0.001
watts), and the latter the typical power requirement of a suburban train (1
megawatt or 1000000 watts).

The 10th resolution of CGPM in 2003 declared that "the symbol for the
decimal marker shall be either the point on the line or the comma on the
line." In practice, the decimal point is used in English-speaking countries
and most of Asia, and the comma in most of Latin America and in
continental European languages.[52]

Spaces should be used as a thousands separator (1000000) in contrast to

commas or periods (1,000,000 or 1.000.000) to reduce confusion resulting
from the variation between these forms in different countries.

Any line-break inside a number, inside a compound unit, or between

number and unit should be avoided. Where this is not possible, line breaks
should coincide with thousands separators.

Since the value of "billion" and "trillion" can vary from language to
language, the dimensionless terms "ppb" (parts per billion) and "ppt"
(parts per trillion) should be avoided. However, no alternative is suggested
in the SI Brochure.
Printing SI symbols

Further rules[Note 9] are specified in respect of production of text using printing presses, word
processors, typewriters and the like.

Symbols are written in upright (Roman) type (m for metres, s for seconds),
so as to differentiate from the italic type used for quantities (m for mass, s
for displacement). By consensus of international standards bodies, this
rule is applied independent of the font used for surrounding text.
In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language computing (CJK), some of the
commonly used units, prefixunit combinations, or unitexponent
combinations have been allocated predefined single characters taking up
a full square. Unicode includes these in its CJK Compatibility and letter-like
symbols sub-ranges for back compatibility, without necessarily
recommending future usage. These are summarised in Unicode symbols.
The cursive , a letter-like symbol, has been used in a number of countries
in addition to China and Japan as a symbol for the litre, but this is not
currently recommended by any standards body.
In print, the space used as a thousands separator (commonly called a thin
space) is typically narrower than that used between words.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units

gvjvi `eY I gvjvwiwU (Molar Solution & Molarity)

wi Zvcgvvq Kvbv `eYi cwZ wjUvi AvqZb GK gvj `e `exfZ _vKj m
`eYK H `ei gvjvi `eY ej| hgb 1 gvj H2SO4 = 98g H2SO4 GesGKwU `eYi cwZ
wjUvi 98gm H2SO4 `exfZ _vKj m `eYwU H2SO4 Gi gvjvi `eY|

wi Zvcgvvq cwZ wjUvi `eY `exfZ `ei Mvg AvYweK fi ev gvj msLvK H
`eYi gvjvwiwU ejv nq| GK M viv cKvk Kiv nq|
gvjvj `eY I gvjvwjwU (Molal Solution & Molality)
cwZ 1000 Mvg `veKi ga Kvbv `ei GK gvj `exfZ _vKj H `eYK
mswk `ei gvjvj `eY ej| hgb 40gm NaOH-K 1000gm cvwbZ `exfZ Kij
Drcb `eYK NaOH-Gi gvjvj `eY (1m) NaOH ej|
1000 Mvg `veK `exfZ `ei gvj ev Mvg AvYweK fi-Gi msLvK H `eYi
mswk `ei gvjvwjwU ej| GK m viv cKvk Kiv nq|
Kvbv `eYi gvjvwjwU (m) = `ei gvj msLv/ wKjvMvg `veKi fi

a^4 + b^4
Posted on July 25, 2012 by benvitalis

Did you know that

a^4 + b^4 = (a^2 + ab

2 + b^2) (a^2 ab

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorization
benvitalenum3ers.wordpress.com/page/7/

2 + b^2)