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From: giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: A universal system of units
Message-ID: <1155@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Jan-84 20:39:55 EST
Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1155
Posted: Mon Jan 16 20:39:55 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Jan-84 01:11:45 EST
References: <15432@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: University of Central Florida
Lines: 44

What base do you use for your logarithms? 10?

I admit that pi is not exactly a number which rolls fluidly off the tongue,
but it is used for a very simple reason -- things come out a lot cleaner
with it than with any other number.

Sure, for `average man in the street' applications revolutions is a nicer
unit, but for any real analysis in mathematical physics pi, e, and all of
the other common transcendental numbers greatly simplify the work.  In
fact, I would seriously question if any race (even one using symbolic
mathematical programs) could attain the level of technology required for
the entire discussion on universal units to have meaning.  Quite simply
(yes, I like that word :-)), they would get bogged down with all of the
extra terms introduced by using other constants.

Finally, in my general relativity course we renormalized all units into
meters, using the following conversions:

speed of light = c = 1
gravitation constant = G = 1
Boltzmann constant = k = 1

unit of planar angles = radians    (2 pi radians / circle)
unit of solid angles = steradians  (4 pi steradians / sphere)
unit of temperature = degrees Kelvin

And for an exercise we found the renormalizations used in advanced quantum
mechanics, which was the same as above except that Boltzmann's constant
was replaced with Planck's constant.

Remember, the people who would actually make the contact have already spent
nearly a century with their renormalizations, and they were not picked
arbitrarily.


Bruce Giles
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