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How a Dozenal Metrological System Should be Developed
The design of a system of measure with relationships between its units based on twelve should be designed by applying well chosen principles from the outset. Before the units are defined, the type of metrological system should be decided upon for the features that are desirable, useful, and prone to being adopted out of necessity or convenience. There are two strategies that have merit for the basis of a metrological system, as follows:
Dozenification of Present Standards
Of the first kind of proposal, that by Ralph Beard is of interest and commendable in the setting of its historical context. There, units were chosen so as to retain some such as the inch of the pre-existing Customary or Imperial systems of measurement, as well as attempting to incorporate to a good extent of approximation other units such as the pound of weight. The proposal was put forward in the context of a time when the international decimal system of measurement was not as widely established as it is nowadays, and is to be regarded mainly as a way for other systems of measurement to compete by being made more systematic and at least as suitable for science or other transactions as the metric system was.
Since then however, the Customary and Imperial systems have almost been replaced globally by the decimal metric system. There is less merit therefore in basing a minimum change system on the Imperial or Customary systems rather than dozenification of the international decimal metric system. The Imperial or Customary systems are dreadful systems as far as numerical consistency is concerned, and should not be considered in any way admirable in that respect or as systems to be retained or emulated. Some other bad features of Imperial or Customary should also be abandoned, such as the unsystematic names of the units specific to territorial languages.
At the moment, there have been proposals for dozenification of the decimal metric system or of design of a system of measurement based on or retaining some units of the metric system. These include the Pendulum System by the author here, and the decimetre-kilogram system proposed by Wendy Krieger, also described in this Base Dozen Forum.
Natural Units
Of the second kind of strategy, the Universal Unit System of Takashi Suga is one that also is built with the intention of emphasizing dozenal relationships between natural quantities.
Other Dozenal Systems
While there are potentially many other possible dozenal proposals for metrological systems based on the above strategies, dozenal systems of measurement proposed by others that are based on neither of the above two favourable principles ought to be rejected. For too long I have been quiet on this matter and because of the repetition of these regressive systems I have to state this more strongly than before. Systems based principally on geocentric features such as the day and gravity on the surface of Earth for themselves without an ulterior and superior motive such as to retain existing units or to align with universal constants ought to be discarded in the garbage as the trash they are. Science has advanced far beyond the geocentric confines on which earlier metric systems were based from the time when quantum physics was unknown. Systems based on properties of the Earth that are not constant universally are of no interest to modern science in the development of metrological systems meeting current demands. Dozenal proposals of this kind too often mentioned by dozenists include the Tim-Grafut-Maz (TGM) of Tom Pendlebury and the trade-like so-called "Primel" system of John Volan. Their units do not form simple unitary ratios with common conventional units, making conversion laborious and requiring the expense of replacing equipment and machinery. Demanding that prospective dozenists conform to such systems inhibits the use of base twelve, stifles further development of dozenal research and advancement, and makes the entire dozenal cause seem outdated and retrograde.
References:
The design of a system of measure with relationships between its units based on twelve should be designed by applying well chosen principles from the outset. Before the units are defined, the type of metrological system should be decided upon for the features that are desirable, useful, and prone to being adopted out of necessity or convenience. There are two strategies that have merit for the basis of a metrological system, as follows:
- A system that preserves as much as possible existing commonly used units of measurement, but justifies them by a dozenal derivation. This is the minimum change proposal. It allows retention of existing implements and instruments and would involve the least financial cost in enactment. It removes a barrier that many people misconceive to be preventing any hope of dozenal being adopted, namely that the current decimal metric system too readily restricts enumeration to base ten and would be too expensive to change. Anyone who sincerely claims to agree with minimum change should support this type of dozenification proposal of existing units of measurement and reject other proposals for dozenal systems of measurement not based on this principle of retention.
- A system that is founded on fundamental physical constants and natural units based on their extreme limits or the maximum or minimum possible values of the quantities. Such a system is in demand among physicists to the extent that natural units even replace earlier conventional units in certain fields, such as particle and cosmological theoretical physics. The motivation for dozenists here is that by replacing the decimal metric system and all other decimal systems of measurement by one based on pure physics which has no inherent relationship to base ten, the eradication of the artificial decimal connection between units will free everyone to enumerate and calculate in a base that is not decimal. Since mathematically the base twelve is the more convenient for calculation, people in the absence of a decimal system of units will gravitate towards dozenal because of its advantages.
- A third stategy might be a combination of the above two sorts. This way, it could be possible to include advantages of both types. However, there is also a risk of such a hybrid system satisfying neither of the two beneficial principles enough unless the combination is designed carefully to fit the demands of its users.
Dozenification of Present Standards
Of the first kind of proposal, that by Ralph Beard is of interest and commendable in the setting of its historical context. There, units were chosen so as to retain some such as the inch of the pre-existing Customary or Imperial systems of measurement, as well as attempting to incorporate to a good extent of approximation other units such as the pound of weight. The proposal was put forward in the context of a time when the international decimal system of measurement was not as widely established as it is nowadays, and is to be regarded mainly as a way for other systems of measurement to compete by being made more systematic and at least as suitable for science or other transactions as the metric system was.
Since then however, the Customary and Imperial systems have almost been replaced globally by the decimal metric system. There is less merit therefore in basing a minimum change system on the Imperial or Customary systems rather than dozenification of the international decimal metric system. The Imperial or Customary systems are dreadful systems as far as numerical consistency is concerned, and should not be considered in any way admirable in that respect or as systems to be retained or emulated. Some other bad features of Imperial or Customary should also be abandoned, such as the unsystematic names of the units specific to territorial languages.
At the moment, there have been proposals for dozenification of the decimal metric system or of design of a system of measurement based on or retaining some units of the metric system. These include the Pendulum System by the author here, and the decimetre-kilogram system proposed by Wendy Krieger, also described in this Base Dozen Forum.
Natural Units
Of the second kind of strategy, the Universal Unit System of Takashi Suga is one that also is built with the intention of emphasizing dozenal relationships between natural quantities.
Other Dozenal Systems
While there are potentially many other possible dozenal proposals for metrological systems based on the above strategies, dozenal systems of measurement proposed by others that are based on neither of the above two favourable principles ought to be rejected. For too long I have been quiet on this matter and because of the repetition of these regressive systems I have to state this more strongly than before. Systems based principally on geocentric features such as the day and gravity on the surface of Earth for themselves without an ulterior and superior motive such as to retain existing units or to align with universal constants ought to be discarded in the garbage as the trash they are. Science has advanced far beyond the geocentric confines on which earlier metric systems were based from the time when quantum physics was unknown. Systems based on properties of the Earth that are not constant universally are of no interest to modern science in the development of metrological systems meeting current demands. Dozenal proposals of this kind too often mentioned by dozenists include the Tim-Grafut-Maz (TGM) of Tom Pendlebury and the trade-like so-called "Primel" system of John Volan. Their units do not form simple unitary ratios with common conventional units, making conversion laborious and requiring the expense of replacing equipment and machinery. Demanding that prospective dozenists conform to such systems inhibits the use of base twelve, stifles further development of dozenal research and advancement, and makes the entire dozenal cause seem outdated and retrograde.
References:
- Ralph H. Beard, The Do-Metric System, A Dozenal System of Weights and Measures, The Duodecimal Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 2, June 1945
https://dozenal.org/drupal/sites_bck/default/files/DuodecimalBulletinIssue012-web_0.pdf - https://dozenal.forumotion.com/t23-pendulum-system
- https://dozenal.forumotion.com/t5-dm-kg-system
- https://dozenal.forumotion.com/t9-proposal-for-the-universal-unit-system
- http://dozenal.com/
- http://www.dozenalsociety.org.uk/pdfs/TGMbooklet.pdf
- https://dozenal.forumotion.com/t10-primenote-metrology
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