Re: [office-formula] CONVERT - proposals and a new draft

[Eike Rathke <erack@sun.com>]

Hi David,

On Monday, 2007-02-12 18:50:26 -0500, David A. Wheeler wrote:

> > >  - Drop mass measures hweight, shweight.  Don't know what they are,
> > >  and I doubt they're important.
> > 
> > Commented as Hundredweight and Shorthundredweight in the sources.
> > Yet another U.S. invention. Used in commerce, it seems, and corresponds
> > with 'ozm' and similar. Should use an abbreviation instead, see
> > http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/AvoirdupoisSystemofUnits.html
> 
> Looks like cwt and lcwt are their official abbreviations.
> 
> Should we include this?  Just the official symbols, or the older OOo symbols too?

We can mention the old OOo symbols for reference, but I doubt anyone
used them because it wasn't clear what they are.


> > Not mentioned in the online-help is 'brton', Gross Registered Ton, but
> > that should be 'GRT' then instead.
> 
> Aka a "long ton".  "lton" seems to be used too.  Okay, now I know what it is... do we want to include it in the spec?

GRT isn't a unit of mass. A gross registered ton is not to be confused
with a gross ton (= long ton), it's a unit of volume instead and equals
100 cubic feet. Used to describe the cargo capacity of ships. See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ton

We may include it, it is commonly used.


> > Btw, a 'd' for day would fit into the time quantities.
> 
> True, I wasn't sure we wanted to add that.  I fear adding much more.

This one wouldn't hurt, I think.

  Eike

-- 
Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.