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From: Ross Smith <ross.smith@nz.eds.com>
Subject: Re: New IEC proposal: 1 kibibyte = 1024 bytes
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References: <E3zz2M.D9o.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk> <32DBC1D4.23D8@cs.purdue.edu> <E424nG.F3r.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk> <E45wKB.IFE@thinkage.on.ca>
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Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 01:38:01 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.std.internat:6688 sci.lang:68410

Alan Bowler wrote:
> 
> >In article <32DBC1D4.23D8@cs.purdue.edu>,
> >
> >> There are exactly seven fundamental "base units" in SI:
> >>
> >>   meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, candela
>                               ^^^^^^
> >>
> >> You can express all other quantities using these base units. For
> >> practical convenience, a number of "derived units with special names"
> >> has been defined in SI,
> 
> I thought the base unit was the coulomb, since it can be more simply
> defined.  (i.e. the charge on N electrons)

As I pointed out earlier in the thread, the important question is not
how accurately a unit can be *defined*, but how accurately it can be
*measured* in the real world. That's why SI's electromagnetic units are
all based on the ampere, defined in terms of the force between two
currents.

-- 
Ross Smith <mailto:ross.smith@nz.eds.com> ...... Wellington, New Zealand
     "I'm as interested as anybody else in all the things no decent
     person would be interested in."          -- Ashleigh Brilliant
