Questions tagged [measuring-units]

Questions about units of measure

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Units of measure in a 'between' range

I've seen lots of similar questions, but none exact to what I'm working with. Example: Ex. 1: "The result should be between 100 and 300 mm/hr." Ex. 2: "The result should be between 100 ...
Vinny Pem's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
242 views

Correct order for prices per unit

In English, currencies should go before the number (i.e. €24.47). Other units should go after (i.e. 3 m2). But what is the correct order when you mean to give a price per unit (using the slash sign ...
Ana's user avatar
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What's the proper way to use the word "depth"? Is it "at 15 feet depth" or should it be "at a depth of 15 feet"? [duplicate]

For example: The phreatic surface is encountered at 15 feet depth. or The phreatic surface is encountered at a depth of 15 feet. The first sentence seems to be easier to read.
Anderson de Oliveira's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
141 views

Is there a word for the name or base unit of a currency?

Many currencies are named using the following pattern: {adjectival form of their country of issue} {base unit} Examples: Portuguese escudo Turkish lira Similarly, dollar is not a currency, but the ...
Andrew Parsons's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
50 views

What unit do you describe when talking about relative time?

In the same format a microwave puts things (as in, an amount of time from the present and not part of standard time), this should be able to be written in sentence, but I'm unsure which unit to use. ...
semproser19's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
15 views

that does not/do not, was/were [duplicate]

I have the two sentences below and I can't seem to figure out which one, in both cases, would be correct. They "sound" equally correct to me. Sentence 1 We should make patterns that are ...
pxlr88's user avatar
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0 answers
11 views

Subject-verb agreement with implied subject [duplicate]

tl;dr Which is the appropriate verb in the following sentence? Apparently, 2,000 steps [is/are] hazardous to my sleep. I use a sleep app that calculates a (dubious) sleep quality value and tracks ...
dx_over_dt's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
110 views

What is the word to describe a variable whose value does not relate to any absolute unit of measure?

What the title says. I know there's a word but can't remember it. To explain in more detail, I'm trying to state that while the variable is quantitative, the quantity is not referring to an ...
Adam Streck's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
128 views

"Foot" or "feet" when referring to rope?

My friend, when referring to his landlord, said: "what she could do with is 9 foot of rope" I say it should be feet of rope, not foot. He says both can be correct: 'when referring to height ...
Varun's user avatar
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2 answers
64 views

What's the 'name' for the variation of period units that end in 'ly'?

If I call week, month, year, day = singular unit weeks, months, years, days = plural unit What do/can I call = weekly, monthly, yearly (though maybe 'annually'), daily - ? PS: I'm aware of this ...
Dan.'s user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Abbreviation for Ton

I went to wikipedia looking for the symbol/abbreviation for ton. t would be ambiguous since there is both a short ton and a long ton, which mean two different weights. I cannot find a standard ...
Lonnie Best's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
107 views

Is there an equiv­a­lent of “nych­the­meron” that specif­i­cally starts at mid­night?

That is, is there a word for the 24-hour pe­riod start­ing at mid­night? I know that tech­ni­cally a day means ei­ther 24 hours or the pe­riod of time be­tween sun­rise and sun­set, and that day and ...
bucketfish's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

Mentioning a physical unit after a series of values

I have problem deciding which one of the following sentences is correct considering the usage of second(s): Computation times of the proposed algorithms are in the orders of 10^-3 and 10^-4 seconds, ...
Iman's user avatar
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5 votes
5 answers
2k views

How do you distinguish between the two possible distances meant by "five blocks"?

In Amer­i­can towns and cities, blocks are not usu­ally per­fectly square. If I am cor­rect, the south–north side of a block is sev­eral times longer than its west–east side is. So five blocks can ...
Tim's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
592 views

"Each/every 5 ml contains..." - which is correct?

Many drug leaflets for liquid dosage forms state how much of the active ingredient is found in 5 ml of the solution. Would it be correct to state it as "Each 5 ml of the solution contains..."...
Don_S's user avatar
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1 answer
515 views

Does the currency sign (¤) go before, or after the amount?

Should the currency sign (¤) come before, or after the amount of money? Should it be "¤ 1.00", or "1.00 ¤"? Should there be a space between ¤ and the amount?
Flux's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
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Is it 0.5 ampere or 0.5 amperes? [closed]

If it's written as "0.5 ampere", shouldn't we write "0.5 hour" and not "0.5 hours"?
Poppycock's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
60 views

Numerical agreement for 5000 buckets of water

5000 buckets of water is removed from a cubical water tank. or 5000 buckets of water are removed from a cubical water tank. I think the first one is correct because 'water' is an uncountable noun. Am ...
Shashwat Choudhary's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
98 views

How to say non-USD currencies

How would someone say the following when spoken (i.e. a financial report): USD currently trading at SGD $1.36 I think both (A), (B), (C) below are valid and common (using the bold word before the ...
mak's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Use of singular or plural form for decimal money units

According to these following articles: The Chicago Manual of Style Online:Numbers: Q. When referring to decimals from zero to one, are they singular or plural? Stack Exchage (English Language & ...
mak's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
133 views

What is a yard of (pudding, ale, etc.)?

I was just reading William and Ceil Baring-Gould's sadly under-Annotated Mother Goose, in which rhyme #274 is: Hyer iddle diddle dell, A yard of pudding's not an ell; Not forgotten, tweedle-dye, A ...
Quuxplusone's user avatar
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64 views

Can gallons be used for measuring size? And if so - how many inches is it?

I have found the following passage in a book. "Stack 12 (based on the participation of 22 children) gallon-size, resealable plastic bags together. Staple them across the bottom to make the binding of ...
Jules Cocovin's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
155 views

Thickness of a pencil, width of a dime, or as thick as a human hair

If a person wants to describe the dimensions of something to someone, they'll often relate the measurement of a thing to the size of an everyday household object. Examples: It's the thickness of a ...
User1974's user avatar
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0 answers
68 views

measure of quantity: a hundred of bricks

According to the entry of "hundred" in the OED Only in measures of quantity, the structure is a hundred of bricks. What does measure of quantity mean here, especially as opposed to a hundred ...
GJC's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
230 views

Plural or singular when being asked "What's the unit in which a quantity is measured?" [closed]

Example 1: "What's the common measuring unit of the speed of a car in the United States?" Do we say "It's mile per hour" or "It's miles per hour"? Example 2: "Please enter the degrees of the angle:" ...
Clarence Ravel's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
145 views

Hyphenating measurements in case of a fraction

I am now quite comfortable with the rules of hyphenating measurements (For example, 5-foot-long rod, 7-inch-long handle, etc.) However, what is the rule for hyphenation if the number is a fraction. ...
Shalini Agrawal's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
505 views

Possessive for abbreviation of a regular plural noun

How do you write the possessive for an abbreviation of a regular plural noun, when the plural 's' is not present in the abbreviation? I want to write "ten kilograms' weight" in a scientific context ...
Julian Newman's user avatar
-2 votes
2 answers
194 views

Is there a word for a sixtieth of a jiffy?

One definition of a jiffy is that it is a sixtieth of a second, in the same way that a second is a sixtieth of a minute and a minute a sixtieth of an hour. Is there a name for the unit of time that is ...
Logan M's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
378 views

Term for a “unit-ed” (versus “unitless”) quantity

What is a term for the class of measured quantities that have a unit, as distinct from those that are unitless? This term describes any quantity with a unit: 5.3 seconds $0.00 −17.28 metres 4½ ...
bignose's user avatar
  • 364
0 votes
1 answer
323 views

Why the paper size is called a fools-cap? [closed]

Usually the sizes are to be measured in any of the units. But to our amazement the paper size is called as FOOL'S CAP. This is not defining any measurement exactly but it throw a vague idea about the ...
Sahid Abdul Fatah's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
13k views

What is the official abbreviation of "week"?

I have tried searching in a number of places but could not find a reliable article/documentation that lists the official abbreviation of "week". There were however a couple of articles that said that ...
Abhishek Nandgaonkar's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
5k views

Should I capitalize the abbreviation for a unit of measurement?

I'm creating a table in which everything in the columns are being treated like titles- "Suggested Serving Size," "Flavor of Yogurt," etc. So how do I deal with this one- "Profit per 16 oz. Container"...
hwol's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
1k views

What does to be in your nth year mean? [closed]

A kid is 4 years and 7 months old. Is he in his 4th year or 5th year? Counting from the onset of birth 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5..... Between 0 and 1, one is younger than 1 year and I would count 0th ...
maress's user avatar
  • 97
0 votes
1 answer
96 views

When verbally expressing metric units do people use decimal places? [closed]

I am writing a script for an audio description, and am including an estimation of a statue that is 1.5 meters tall. For metric users, would this be expressed in speech as: "one point five meters" or ...
Charlotte's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
77 views

Why is it "Heating Degree Day(s)" but all others are degrees like zero degrees as in a thermometer? [closed]

I have read other questions about zero degrees or zero degree but why is it heating degree days and not degrees? It makes sense to say one degree but zero degrees holds true in until you use absolute ...
brian inman's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
32 views

Handling ranges where the unit prefixes the number [duplicate]

If the unit follows the number, then according to the accepted answer of the Including units of a measure in a range , you can skip the unit for the first value, such as "1–5 ℥". However, that ...
Andrew Grimm's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
191 views

Connotation of acreage

Merriam Webster defines acreage as: area in acres oxforddictionaries.com defines it as: An area of land, typically when used for agricultural purposes, but not necessarily measured in acres. ...
Wottensprels's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
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When to use yards or miles for distances? What unit to use for areas (hectares, acres, sqyards, sqmiles...)?

I perfectly know how to convert these units, but I don't understand if there's a specific reason for choosing one instead of another. What troubles me the most about them is the difference between ...
Fra's user avatar
  • 143
1 vote
2 answers
106 views

What do you call the part of a quantity that isn't the unit (e.g. the "5" in "5 inches")?

I am thinking "value" is close, but I also want to use the word "value" for the whole thing. A value of 5 inches... in which case the "value" should be broken into the "___" and the "unit". An ...
tscizzle's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
13k views

Two days "is" or "are"? [duplicate]

I have heard about the usage of "be" in specific situations like 2 days, 5 dollars,... For example: Two days ____ enough for us Should I use "is" or "are"? I see both of them are appropriate.
hoang's user avatar
  • 21
6 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why isn't the yard used as a base unit for measuring heights?

I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but, do what I would, I could not find a better one. During my visit to London I stumbled upon something I couldn't quite grasp: Why, even ...
Janek's user avatar
  • 85
0 votes
1 answer
954 views

How to properly use the "second" ordinal number with the "second" time unit? [closed]

What I'm trying to say: "Look carefully at the second second of the video." This might be grammatically correct but it's weird to use. What are some better ways to say it? Context: The sentence is ...
Taylan's user avatar
  • 125
9 votes
3 answers
41k views

How to write lengths of time in a short way with numbers

I am writing statistics results and I want to put a list of lengths of time. In decimal values it will be, for example, 1.90 hours but this is not very human friendly. Then I think I can use 1 hour ...
fguillen's user avatar
  • 201
0 votes
0 answers
29 views

Do I put a hyphen between the number and unit? [duplicate]

For example, in the sentence: I enforced a 60 minute time limit. Should it be: I enforced a 60-minute time limit. Which one is correct?
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
6k views

What is the meaning of "one-half meter"?

I have found this phrase that as a non-native English speaker perplexes me: ...returning images with a resolution of up to one-half meter per pixel. The possible meanings of "one-half" to me are: ...
George's user avatar
  • 111
1 vote
4 answers
732 views

Unit prefix of zeroth power

Unit prefix for 10-1 is deci, for 10-2 centi, for 10-3 milli, for 10-6 micro and so on. Powers greater or equal one also have names: 101 is deca, 102 is hecto, 103 is kilo etc.. We can say, for ...
viuser's user avatar
  • 143
1 vote
1 answer
5k views

Is “office hours” correct if it refers to a single hour?

My coworker is suggesting a change to “office hour” in this case. Is that more right? I know “hour” as a unit should be singular when (and only when) there’s exactly one, but as part of the name for ...
Luke M's user avatar
  • 70
13 votes
2 answers
7k views

Should you say "0.9 second" rather than "0.9 seconds"?

When looking through the National Physical Laboratory's SI unit conventions, I have found a strange clause in their list: For unit values more than 1 or less than -1 the plural of the unit is ...
BladorthinTheGrey's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
229 views

Is it correct to say "1 feet 1 inches"? [duplicate]

Is it correct to say "1 feet 1 inches"? This site shows examples of such expressions. They might have been erroneously automatically generated, though. Notes: I'm not sure who would ever ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
  • 5,352
4 votes
1 answer
18k views

Short forms for pounds and ounces? [closed]

I have been using ' for pounds and " for ounces for quite a while now,but it was pointed out to me today that my pet cat weighs 6 feet 9 inches.(l wrote 6'9" to a vet). Are these acceptable ...
Allie Canuck's user avatar