The Grammer of Metrology

The technical grammer of metrology ("The field of knowledge concerned with measurement") is given in the international IS0 (International Organization for Standardization) publications IS0 1000 and IS0 31/0. Most major countries have National versions of these documents, identical in French and English and in translations for other languages. In the United Kingdom these documents are, respectively, British Standard (BS) 5555 and BS 5775: Part 0. IS0 31 also has thirteen other parts dealing with "Quantities and Units" in various fields of physics. These are hard going and all that most people need to know is the names and symbols for the common units of measurement and how to make use of them. A related document, which is really the foundation of them all, is "The International System of Units (SI) / Le Systsme International d'UnitQs (SI)". This is published by the Bureau Internationa des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) at Shres, on the outskirts of Paris. This document is at present in its 5th (1985) edition. Some of the highlights of "SI" and some of the common mistakes made by users of these documents are: