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On 2 Jan 2003 at 9:16, Steven Ayres wrote: > AndrewVdS=> It's situations like this that lost NASA the Mars Orbiter. > > So right! This may have been an English vs. metric problem, but the REAL problem was the failure to specify the units, which in my mind was an even more fundamental error. I was always taught that it was essential, for many reasons, carry the units all the way thru the calculation. In NASA's case the conversation must have gone like this. "What acceleration do we need?" "7.3" "Okay, you got it." There are TWO mistakes here. The data should have included the units, AND, when they didn't, the recipient should have asked for them. Likewise if you ask me how much oil the type 3 crankcase holds you should not be satisfied if I answer 2.5. You need to ask 2.5 WHAT? Note the clever insertion of type 3 content in what was basically a physics rant. ;-) -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <type3-off@vwtype3.org> For more help, see http://vwtype3.org/list/