From Ben Craven
If we are going to redefine the kilogram, can we give it a less misleading name while we’re at it (22 September, p 46)? The fact that the base unit of mass has a “kilo” prefix is a factor-of-a-thousand accident waiting to happen.
More than once I have interpreted a megagram as “a million times the base unit of mass”, which of course works with metres, amps, moles and all the others. The trouble is that a megagram is only a thousand times the base unit of mass. Fortunately, in my case the only damage was to my exam marks.
Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, UK
