rc@icst-cmr.arpa (02/05/87)
(This message is a contribution of the Diatribe-of-the-Month Club, and should not be held against my employer!) I note that the members of this Group are no better than others at getting the abbreviations of units of measure and their multipliers right. Nevertheless, doing it right isn't really hard. The general rule is that the unit is not capitalized; the abbreviation of the unit is capitalized only if it is named after a person. Multipliers are not capitalized; abbreviations for multipliers greater than one thousand ARE capitalized. Correct Unit Incorrect What "incorrect" "says" -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hz hertz hz "hz" kHz kilohertz KHz kelvin-hertz khz kilo"hz" Khz kelvin"hz" MHz megahertz mHz millihertz (Hz/1000) mhz milli"hz" GHz gigahertz s second(s) S siemens (1/ohms) sec "dry" in French ms milliseconds Ms megaseconds us (mu) microseconds ms milliseconds ns nanoseconds Ns newton-seconds NS newton-siemens nS nanosiemens See the following for more information: ANSI/IEEE Std 945 ASTM publication E 380 National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 330 also: "Changing to the Metric System", Ministry of Technology, National Physical Laboratory, HMSO London, 1965. -------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't think the following are yet "official". b bit(s) Bd baud (from Baudot) by byte -------------------------------------------------------------------- I have to go back into my cage now, the keeper has come. Bob Carpenter <rc@icst-cmr.arpa>