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The first group of metric units are those that are at present defined as units within the International System of Units (SI). In its most restrictive interpretation, this is what may be meant when the term metric unit is used. The unit one (1) is the unit of a quantity of dimension one. It is the neutral element of any system of units. [2]
The other units of length and mass, and all units of area, volume, and derived units such as density were derived from these two base units. Mesures usuelles ( French for customary measures ) were a system of measurement introduced as a compromise between the metric system and traditional measurements.
The kilogram is the only coherent SI unit whose name and symbol include a prefix. For historical reasons, the names and symbols for multiples and sub-multiples of the unit of mass are formed as if the gram were the base unit. Prefix names and symbols are attached to the unit name gram and the unit symbol g
Today, the International system of units consists of 7 base units and innumerable coherent derived units including 22 with special names. The last new derived unit, the katal for catalytic activity, was added in 1999. All the base units except the second are now defined in terms of exact and invariant constants of physics or mathematics ...
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic.Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol.
The measurement of time is unique in SI in that while the second is the base unit, and measurements of time smaller than a second use prefixed units smaller than a second (e.g. microsecond, nanosecond, etc.), measurements larger than a second instead use traditional divisions, including the sexagesimal-based minute and hour as well as the less ...
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A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. [1] Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multiple of the unit of measurement. [2] For example, a length is a physical quantity.