2008/02/18 by W H Emerson · 32 citations
Decision Sciences · Mathematics · #Scientific Measurement and Uncertainty Evaluation #Calculus (dental) #Algebraic number #Algebra over a field #Mathematics #Units of measurement #Pure mathematics #Mathematical analysis #Physics
paper · doi:10.1088/0026-1394/45/2/002
published in Metrologia 45(2), 134-138 (IOP Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2008/02/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
‘Quantity calculus’ is a name sometimes given to algebra as it is applied to quantities. It is assumed that the rules of algebra apply equally well to quantities as they do to numbers, and that they apply to units of measurement because they too are, by definition, quantities in their own right. This paper examines that assumption and concludes that, while it may be true of abstract quantities, it is not universally applicable to measurable quantities, whose practical units are not algebraic variables.