Re: Loss of Mars Climate Orbiter due to units of measurment conflicts

[Wes Groleau <wwgrol@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com>]

> > > |While I am personally in favor of the SI, I must insist that the
> > > |"fundamental constants" are rendered in whatever units the renderer
> > > |chooses.  I was taught in high school that G = 32.2 ft / sec**2
> >
> > Yes, but I was rebutting a post that claimed the reason for using SI is
> > because "that's what the fundamental constants are rendered in."
> 
> Actually, you can't "choose" what units the fundamental constants
> are in.  They are decided on by an international body and the method
> of measurement, the units used, the accuracy, etc are all part of
> the published value.  You wouldn't expect to have "Wes' Own Ada"
> would you? What made Ada was decided upon by a large body after
> much consultation.  Of course you can convert from SI to Imperial
> but I'll stand by my original statement.  Fundamental constants
> are published in SI units, not some other units of convenience.

So, in the above scenario, the international body is the renderer that
_chose_ to publish them in SI.  Other renderers may have chosen (as did
the author of my high school physics text) to render them in other
units.

I encourage SI--but the fact that someone used it somewhere to publish
an "official" approximation for the speed of light or Avogadro's
constant*
is not a good argument for using SI

* Ever notice that Ada 95 Quality and Style contains two different
values 
  for Avogadro's constant?  (See 3.1.2 and 3.2.6)  Notice that neither
  mentions units, nor matches the 1998 CODATA value?