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The Metric System of Weights and Measures. National Council of Teachers of Mathemil".Tics, Yearbook 2C 1948]

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DOCUMENT FEMME r , ED 096181 Si 018 481 AUTHOR . Johnson, J. T., Comp.; And Others TITLE 64%. The Metric System of Weights and Measures. National Council of Teachers of Mathemil".tics, Yearbook 2C 1948]. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers.of Mathematics, Inc., Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 48 NOTE' 317p. AVAILABLE FROM 'National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc., 1906 Association Drive, Reston, Virgivia 22091 FDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC Not Available from EDRS. PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS Adoption (Id'eas); *Curriculum; Educational Objectives; *Mathematics Education; *Measurement;, *Metric System; Public Opinion; Public.,Support; Reference Books; *Yearbooks ABSTRACT This yearbook is an effort to reevaluate the metric system and to present testimonies from people in various occupations with respect to metric usage (as of 1948) .The first of four major Sections explains the metric system and its development. Next are 29 articles discussing the usage of the system in the general areas of education, science, engineering, mamfacturing and merchandising, medicine and pharmacy, world.tra.de, armed forces, and athletics. In +he public interest section, accounts of magazines, reports, newspapers, radio, and clubs advocating theadoption of the system are given. The fourth section centers onmethods of making the adop+ion both in education and in general. (LS) 0 S .The Metric System ofvveionts and Measures THE NANIONAI, COUNCIL OF TEAGIIERS OF MATHEMATICS: TINVENTIET,11 YEARBOOK CoNIPILED BY THE CO\I\IITTEE ON THE Jr METRIC SYSTEM,J. T. JOHNSON, Chairman %. BY MICRO u S DEPARTMEN OF HEALTH FIC IN I. "I E0,JCAT,ONS. NELFORE NATIONAL INST,TuTE OF ees EDUCATION' . flnI .." I . ,1 .I 4 111R1.1((fl: PUBLIC.VIIONS, TE.1(liERS ()11,E (ib ()1.l \MI.\ NI\ 1.:11tilIV, NI:\\ .10111:, 19is I/ 4 4. 0 's .4. COPYRIGHT, 1941, BY . .. THE N31TIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACIIEIIS OF MATHEMATIC& INC. 9 1.1 Correspondence 'relating to, and orars for ad- ditional copies of, the Twentieth Yearbook apd I the earlier Yearbooks should be addressed to , 4, BUREAU OF PUBLICATIONS TE ACIIERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA(UNIVERSITY 4 525 West 120th Street . New York 27, N. Y. a I ) C. '1/41 11-A111. 111-.1) I NI 11E UNITED s rATI..s AmE.HicA 0. 11. /4. Editor's Preface tI . 4%, Tins ig the twentieth in the series of Yearbooks started in 1926 by The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The titles of the' preceding YearbOoks are as follows: 1. A Survey of Progress in the Past Twenty-Five Years 2. Curriculum Problems in Teaching Mithematies 3. Selected Topics in the Teaching of Mathematics 4. Significant Changes and Trends in the Teaching ofMathematics Throughout the World Since 1910 5. The Teaching of Geometry 6. Mathematics in Modern Life 7. The Teaching of Algebra 4 S. The Teaching of Mathematics in the Secondary School 9. Relational and Functional Thinking in Mathematics 10. TheTeaching of Arithmetic 11. The Place of Mathematics in Modern Education 12. Approximate Computatiop . 13. The Nature of Proof 14. The Training of Mathematics Teachers 15. The. Place of Mathematics in Secondary EduCation 16. Arithmetic in General Education 17. A Source Book of Mathematical Applications A 15. Multi-Sensory Aids in the Teaching pf Mathem. ics 19. Surveying Instruntents: Their History and Classroom Use The present' Yearbook is a very important addition to the vol- times that preceded it andwin. serve as a companion work to the Nineteenth Yearbook,. which deals with surveying instruments. Special enmhasis is put on the value of the metric system in all activities involving measurement. It is most illuminating to see in how manyifields the metric system is already being used.tuld how hnanv leaders ill these fields advocatethe general adoption of the metric system in the schools.It seems certain that such adoption EDITOR'S PREFACE 'would save at leastone year of school time for the pupils. More- . over. it seems most important that the metric system be adopted at Once while postwar comfit; ins offer an excellent opportunity for the change. - As Editor of the Yearbook series, I wish to expressmy personal appreciation to Dr. Johnson and the other members of his eummuittee for their interest vnd carol in seeing the Yearbook through the press. W., D. REEVE O Foreword Fon a long time the metric system has been popular with teachers of mathematics Ind science, but at the present time, for a. num- ber of very godd reasons, it seems espeCially appropriate to,re-. e"'" view and revalue the metric system with a view to adopting it of- ficially in the United States. , In the present highly scientific and technological age, a system of weights and measures having the simplicity, convenience, and scientific interactions that the metric system possesses can no longer be denied a fair trial. If we are to achieve that "one world" which offers such hope to a war-tired world, it seems highly desirable to have a world-wide system of weights and measures to go along with the almost uni- versally adopted IIindu-Arabic numerals and musical notation - and the widely used Latin alphabet. At the present time we have millions of Americans who have spe t some time in metric countries and have had a considerable am unt of experience in using the metric system. he metric system is taught in practically all classes in high sch of and (..'ollee science and to some extent in mathematics classei;- and it is used by a large number of commercial firms do- ing an 'export and import business or manufacturing products for the almost wholly metric world. If we were to adopt the metric system, we would no longer need to waste the time now spent in teaching the old imperial system of weights and measures and in converting values of the imperial system into their metric equiva- lents and vice versa. The implications of accuracy in computing with approximate data make it most urgent that we accept w;thout any further de- lay a simple decimal system of weights and measures. \ viii FOREWORD 'This Yearbook represent, an effort to re-evaluate the metric system apd to present testimonies from people in various occupa- tions with respect to metric usage. The Yearbook Committee J. T. JOHNSON W. D. REEVE E. W. SCHREIBER ' C. N. SHUSTER H.' warrcnAri A Note on the Ye. arbook 'Ate invention of the Hindu-Arabic decimal number system is one of man's outstanding achievements. With it, for the first time in history, masses were able to learn the art of computation. Later SiMon Stevin still further simplified the processes of computation by the introduction of the decimal fraction. Today the decimal fraction should be called the common fraction, so widely is it Used in comme rce and technology. Still later came the metric system of measures, based upon the I units meter,'ter, and gram, which are also decimal. To appraise from an inclusive point of view the merits of this system' is the purpose of this Yearbook. As an educator and author of textbooks in mathematics, I commend Dr. Johnson and The National Coun- cil of Teachers of Mathematics for this publication. If the selec- tion of a system of measures were optional wit'ducators, they would unhesitatingly choose a decimal system. They are well aware of the tremendous efFort required to learn, for example, the relationship between the linear units in our system: 1 inch , 1 /12 foot, 1 foot . 1,%3 yard, i yard 2/11 rod, 1. rod =1/320 mile.In contrast they appreciate the simplicity and ease with which the pupil_ could learn:1 millimeter , 0.1 centimeter, 1 centimeter 0.01 meter, and 1 meter 0.001 kilometer. From the point of view of teaching and learning, it would not be easy to design a more difficult system than the English system. In contrast, it would seem almost impossible to design a system more easily learned than the metric system.w JOHN H. CLARK a . S Contents I. System in Aim:Sures'. THE NEED FOR CORRELATED UNITS, THEIR SCIENTIFICDEVELOPMENT, AND THEIR WIDESPREAD ADOPTION The .Syitem The'Nfctric Systein: What It, Is and NVhvWe Need It 1 J.Ans[01.1), Director of Audio-VisualEducation, Mankato Public Schools, Mankato, Minnesota Weights and MeasuresThrottgl' the' Ages 13 ]use: Oltrlr moN%smiuo, Professor of Physicsand Mathematics, Loyola' University of the South, New Orleans Is All This Reallv'ecessary? 17 NNING POLLOCK Derelopment The Early History of the Metric System - 22 Emyr.: . Seeretarq-Treasurer, The National Council of Teachers of Atathematies Later Trends in MetriciTsage 33 J. Lim stiC.EK, Chairman, Department ofMathematics, Chicago Colic . P. The System at Work E c,ctitylONS AND ENDORSEMENTS 01' THE METRIC SYSTEM BY USERS IN %,11,ELy VARIED FIELDS OF Acrivil'i aitteatiott Shall \\re Educate ()n Childrenfor Efficiency? 51 Of the .NatiolIal Ed/Wu/jou Assoja- 1[0. ditfir. limi I, x CONTENTS Comments and Res3lutions On the .Metric System JOURNAL Of THE NATIONAVEDUCATION ASSOCIATION; U. S. COMMIS.. SIONER EUVCATIVN; THE NATIONAL SCIENTE TEACHERS ASSOCIATIOol; THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS TEACHERS; CONNECTICUT 'ALLEY SECTION, ASSOC:IATION OK TEACHERS OF MATHE- MATICS IN NEW ENGLAND Science Lee! Be Scrupulous Abotit Our "Scruples" 61 R. W. NIArrooN, Research PhysicistrUniversity of Chicago The Metric System in Chemi.5tcy 63 HAROLD W. BAKER, National Science Teachers Association The Metric System in Meteorology 65 CHARLES- F. Alums, Director, Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Harvard University Resolution in Favor of the Metric System 68 AMERICAN ASsOCIATIoN FOR ADVANcEmENT OF SCIENCE Engineeriny, The Metric System in Electrical Engineering 68 A. E. KENNELLY. Professor Emeritus.. Electrical Engineering. Massachu- setts Institute of Technology The MetriC System in Mecoanical Engineering Louts Et t.torr.
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