"Centi-millionaire"

[Keith F. Lynch]

According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."

This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.

Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

[jerryfriedman]

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

..

Agreed on all three. Would you rather be called a
hectomillionaire or a decibillionaire? (Assuming the
descriptions were accurate.)

--
Jerry Friedman

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats

-not-even-in-the-top-20/

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

..
Agreed on all three. Would you rather be called a
hectomillionaire or a decibillionaire? (Assuming the
descriptions were accurate.)

If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

They survive only in obsolete consumer units,
like centiliters on bottles,

Jan

[charles]

Post by Keith F. Lynch

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats

-not-even-in-the-top-20/

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

..
Agreed on all three. Would you rather be called a
hectomillionaire or a decibillionaire? (Assuming the
descriptions were accurate.)

If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

electronics certainly has microFarads, picoFarads and even nanoFarads

Post by Keith F. Lynch
They survive only in obsolete consumer units,
like centiliters on bottles,
Jan

[Keith F. Lynch]

Post by charles

Post by J. J. Lodder
If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

electronics certainly has microFarads, picoFarads and even nanoFarads

I think J. J. means positive powers, i.e. deka and hecto.

Post by charles

Post by J. J. Lodder
They survive only in obsolete consumer units, like centiliters on
bottles,

Or maybe that's not what J. J. means, given that centi is a negative
power. Anyhow, centimeters are extremely common.

And I think microseconds and nanoseconds are more common than
microfarads and nanofarads. In fact a *whole bunch* of nanoseconds
went by as I was typing this message!

Even attoseconds are in common use, even though there are more
attoseconds in a single second than there have been seconds since
the beginning of time.

[Phil Carmody]

Post by Keith F. Lynch

Post by charles

Post by J. J. Lodder
If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

electronics certainly has microFarads, picoFarads and even nanoFarads

I think J. J. means positive powers, i.e. deka and hecto.

No, he means in ratios smaller than 10^3.
..., 1/10^6, 1/10^3, 1, 10^3, 10^6, ... are fine
1/10^2, 1/10, 10, and 10^2 are obsolete.

However, if you can find them in the standards document as approved,
I'd say that it's not correct to say they "have been phased out".
In particular, if 20 years ago some had *less* standing than they
now do, that's the opposite of being "phased out".

Phil

[Peter Moylan]

Post by charles

Post by J. J. Lodder
If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out. Even
the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

electronics certainly has microFarads, picoFarads and even
nanoFarads

All of which are related by powers of 10^3, agreeing with what Jan said.

This phasing out must have been at about the time Australia went metric,
because we do it all in powers of 10^3. We do not use decilitres, and
few Australians would understand prefixes like deka- and hecto-.

Centimetres survive because they are marked on measuring tapes, but the
building trades do all their measurements in millimetres.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by charles

Post by J. J. Lodder
If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out. Even
the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

electronics certainly has microFarads, picoFarads and even
nanoFarads

All of which are related by powers of 10^3, agreeing with what Jan said.
This phasing out must have been at about the time Australia went metric,
because we do it all in powers of 10^3. We do not use decilitres, and
few Australians would understand prefixes like deka- and hecto-.

In Europe the hectare is commonly used for farmland.
The hectoliter was in common use for fluids like wine,
and for certain solids, like coal or potatoes.
Production limits for quality AOC wines are given in hl/ha.

Post by Peter Moylan
Centimetres survive because they are marked on measuring tapes, but the
building trades do all their measurements in millimetres.

Really?
Mine is marked in mm, but only every tenth mm gets a mention on it.
I do have a centimeter rule, arguably,
but that is a surveyors tape rule of 50 meter,
with cm subdivisions marked 10 20 ... without cm being mentioned.
You can argue that these should be understood as .10 .20 ...

Jan

[Phil Carmody]

Post by Keith F. Lynch

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats

-not-even-in-the-top-20/

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

..
Agreed on all three. Would you rather be called a
hectomillionaire or a decibillionaire? (Assuming the
descriptions were accurate.)

If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

However, deci-, deca-, centi-, and hecto- are still perfectly valid SI
prefices. (/3. Decimal multiples and sub-multiples of SI units/, p143)

Post by Keith F. Lynch
They survive only in obsolete consumer units,
like centiliters on bottles,

The hectare ain't dead yet; in fact recently it's been elevated to an
unambiguous "accepted for use with the SI units" state. (/4. Non-SI
units that are accepted for use with the SI/, Table 8, p145)

Phil

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Phil Carmody
However, deci-, deca-, centi-, and hecto- are still perfectly valid SI
prefices. (/3. Decimal multiples and sub-multiples of SI units/, p143)

Post by J. J. Lodder
They survive only in obsolete consumer units,
like centiliters on bottles,

The hectare ain't dead yet; in fact recently it's been elevated to an
unambiguous "accepted for use with the SI units" state. (/4. Non-SI
units that are accepted for use with the SI/, Table 8, p145)

"Hektar" is quite common in Danish when we are talking about large
properties. It has competition from an old unit "tønder land"
(literally: barrels country).

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Phil Carmody

Post by Keith F. Lynch

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-th

ats

Post by Phil Carmody

Post by Keith F. Lynch
-not-even-in-the-top-20/

Post by jerryfriedman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.

..
Agreed on all three. Would you rather be called a
hectomillionaire or a decibillionaire? (Assuming the
descriptions were accurate.)

If a science-literate millionaire, (are there any?) I would know
that all sub-thousand multiples of units have been phased out.
Even the hectopascals beloved by some meteorologists.

However, deci-, deca-, centi-, and hecto- are still perfectly valid SI
prefices. (/3. Decimal multiples and sub-multiples of SI units/, p143)

Certainly, it is just that the use of not-threefold ones is discouraged.
(for units that scale linearly)

Post by Phil Carmody

Post by Keith F. Lynch
They survive only in obsolete consumer units,
like centiliters on bottles,

The hectare ain't dead yet; in fact recently it's been elevated to an
unambiguous "accepted for use with the SI units" state. (/4. Non-SI
units that are accepted for use with the SI/, Table 8, p145)

All in line with the original idea of using independent units
for area and volume.
That is not compatible with the threefold rule for areas. [1]
It works fine again for third powers, so volumes,
(going down, unfortunately not up)

Jan

[1] A kiloare would be a 100\sqrt(10) x 100\sqrt(10) meter square.
It survives in some legal documents.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Keith F. Lynch
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

Pretty sure that's how a lot of people, maybe even a majority,
understand it. It's the only way to resolve the cognitive dissonance
between "my parents have never been rich and have always lived a
modest middle-class lifestyle" and "my parents live in California/on
the East Coast and have paid off their mortgage".

There's also an issue that, for most people, unless you're their
accountant or financial adviser, you don't know how much of their
wealth is liquid, and we don't generally think of someone as a
millionaire (or billionaire) if they don't have lots of cash or easily
converted assets; illiquid assets are included in the calculation of
net worth. I had one financial institution tell me, when I was
applying for an account, to exclude the value of my primary residence
and the balance of any loans secured by that home, when reporting my
net worth to them. (But the same institution definitely did want me
to include my retirement savings, which I guess is technically liquid
even though there's a huge tax penalty for early withdrawal.)

-GAWollman

[Aidan Kehoe]

Post by Garrett Wollman

Post by Keith F. Lynch
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

Pretty sure that's how a lot of people, maybe even a majority,
understand it. It's the only way to resolve the cognitive dissonance
between "my parents have never been rich and have always lived a
modest middle-class lifestyle" and "my parents live in California/on
the East Coast and have paid off their mortgage".

Subjectively, for me it’s not a word that’s used as much as it used to be in
news media, probably for that reason (since they don’t want people to feel
uncomfortable about their level of wealth).

But now I check and that’s not the case at all:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=millionaire%2C+billionaire&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3

Massive peak about at the turn of the last century, steady rise from about 1990
onwards, peaked about 2012. “Billionaire” is the more interesting word, in that
as the number of billionaires goes up there should in theory be more use for it.

Post by Garrett Wollman
There's also an issue that, for most people, unless you're their
accountant or financial adviser, you don't know how much of their
wealth is liquid, and we don't generally think of someone as a
millionaire (or billionaire) if they don't have lots of cash or easily
converted assets; illiquid assets are included in the calculation of
net worth.

And so they should be, keeping things too liquid is usually a bad financial
decision.

Post by Garrett Wollman
[...] I had one financial institution tell me, when I was applying for an
account, to exclude the value of my primary residence and the balance of any
loans secured by that home, when reporting my net worth to them. (But the
same institution definitely did want me to include my retirement savings,
which I guess is technically liquid even though there's a huge tax penalty
for early withdrawal.)

That’s a very strange approach. Are you in an area where real estate is
particularly volatile?

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Garrett Wollman
[...] I had one financial institution tell me, when I was applying for an
account, to exclude the value of my primary residence and the balance of any
loans secured by that home, when reporting my net worth to them. (But the
same institution definitely did want me to include my retirement savings,
which I guess is technically liquid even though there's a huge tax penalty
for early withdrawal.)

That’s a very strange approach. Are you in an area where real estate is
particularly volatile?

I'm in an area where real estate has more than trebled in value over
the past 30 years,[1] despite the temporary effects of the 2007-08
financial crisis. But the account opening process is not specific to
where one's residence is located; I think what they were really
looking for was not actually "net worth" but "net funds available to
invest", but they phrased it in terms of net-worth-with-exclusions.

-GAWollman

[1] My home sold for about 1/4 of its current tax appraisal when the
owners prior to me bought it in 1996.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Garrett Wollman

Post by Garrett Wollman
[...] I had one financial institution tell me, when I was applying for
an account, to exclude the value of my primary residence and the
balance of any loans secured by that home, when reporting my net worth
to them. (But the same institution definitely did want me to include
my retirement savings, which I guess is technically liquid even though
there's a huge tax penalty for early withdrawal.)

Thatâ•˙s a very strange approach. Are you in an area where real estate is
particularly volatile?

I'm in an area where real estate has more than trebled in value over
the past 30 years,[1] despite the temporary effects of the 2007-08
financial crisis. But the account opening process is not specific to
where one's residence is located; I think what they were really
looking for was not actually "net worth" but "net funds available to
invest", but they phrased it in terms of net-worth-with-exclusions.
-GAWollman
[1] My home sold for about 1/4 of its current tax appraisal when the
owners prior to me bought it in 1996.

Same in Europe.
The ECB has been pumping huge amounts of virtual money into the system,
while keeping the interest rate at near zero, or even negative.
Anyone but an economist can foresee that this will cause a housing price
bubble,

Jan

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by J. J. Lodder

Post by Garrett Wollman
[1] My home sold for about 1/4 of its current tax appraisal when the
owners prior to me bought it in 1996.

Same in Europe.
The ECB has been pumping huge amounts of virtual money into the system,
while keeping the interest rate at near zero, or even negative.
Anyone but an economist can foresee that this will cause a housing price
bubble,

Some years ago a friend told me that the banks create money out of blue
air when they give a loan. I found it hard to believe.

Some months ago I saw a film - DR or Youtube - where economists (several
different ones) explained that the central bank in London creates 3% of
the new cash flow while the banks create 97%, each time raising the
amount that normal people owe to the rich people and banks.

My daughters haven't been able to buy a house in a region where they
would like to stay. There are lots of cheap houses outside of the
cities, but many of them are dilapidated, and even if they are okay, the
banks hesitate to give a loan bacuse of the financial risk - which
exists because the banks won't provide loans.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.

How many feet does a centipede have?

[Peter Moylan]

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.

How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

[Steve Hayes]

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

And I would have said about a tenth as many, in theory, at least.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

And I would have said about a tenth as many, in theory, at least.

Where do they keep the platinum pede?

Jan

[Snidely]

Post by J. J. Lodder

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

And I would have said about a tenth as many, in theory, at least.

Where do they keep the platinum pede?
Jan

They footed it down the hall.

-d

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Snidely

Post by J. J. Lodder

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

And I would have said about a tenth as many, in theory, at least.

Where do they keep the platinum pede?

Probably in prison. They don't much care for pédés here.

Post by Snidely

Post by J. J. Lodder
Jan

They footed it down the hall.
-d

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 16:46:23 +0200

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by J. J. Lodder

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
How many feet does a centipede have?

About ten times as many as a millipede.

And I would have said about a tenth as many, in theory, at least.

Where do they keep the platinum pede?

Probably in prison. They don't much care for pédés here.

A Paediatrician had abuse from the neighbors when living in Duffryn.
(but it was just some kids)

https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/a-tale-told-too-much-the-paediatrician-vigilantes/

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Kerr-Mudd, John
A Paediatrician had abuse from the neighbors when living in Duffryn.
(but it was just some kids)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/a-tale-told-too-much-the-paediatrician-vigilantes/

Maybe we should be careful writing about pdf-files?

[Hibou]

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.

How many feet does a centipede have?

You beat me to it. A centipede has 1/100th of a foot, obviously.

(A silkworm has only 6 (or 16) - ça va de /soie/.)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone thought
of SI units, it means 100 times.

As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone thought
of SI units, it means 100 times.
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire.

Sorry, that sentence is badly written, but I expect you can work out
what it's supposed to mean. I committed navi's crime of trying to pack
too much meaning into too few words.

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how big
a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

It's just a factor of 100! They said the metric system was supposed
to be easy like that, not like 640 acres in a square mile....

(The hectare is a weird and confusing unit mostly because nothing else
uses hecto- and the base unit, the are, itself a weird size, a square
dekameter. Interesting that the cubic decimeter as an everyday unit
of volume works much better. I guess they just wanted something in
the same order of magnitude as the traditional units.)

-GAWollman

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Garrett Wollman

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

It's just a factor of 100! They said the metric system was supposed
to be easy like that, not like 640 acres in a square mile....
(The hectare is a weird and confusing unit mostly because nothing else
uses hecto- and the base unit, the are, itself a weird size, a square
dekameter. Interesting that the cubic decimeter as an everyday unit
of volume works much better. I guess they just wanted something in
the same order of magnitude as the traditional units.)

The founding fathers didn't have our idea of relations between units.
They thought of the liter for volume for example as an independent unit.
It had to established in a convenient relation to the meter,
but after that it was to be an independent unit.
And indeed, commercial containers approved for the sale of liquids
were calibrated against standard volumes,
not by measuring their dimensions. [1]

The prefix system is not very suitable for things like volumes
that scale with a third power.
So the liter is still in use, and for example the picoliter
is routinely used for precision laboratory work.
(and even inkjets)
It would be highly inconvenient to express all this
in fractions of the m^3,

Jan

[1] I have seen antique calibrated standard measures still kept in view
in a French market, in a row of different sizes, 1/2 hl, for example.
Merchants selling wine or milk in the market were obliged
to have their measures calibrated against the standards.
Don't remember where, unfortunately.

[Adam Funk]

Post by J. J. Lodder
The prefix system is not very suitable for things like volumes
that scale with a third power.
So the liter is still in use, and for example the picoliter
is routinely used for precision laboratory work.
(and even inkjets)

Because it makes the unit price of printer ink seem less outrageous?

[Keith F. Lynch]

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone
thought of SI units, it means 100 times.

Oh? I have lots of coins marked as worth "one cent." Since you think
they're worth $100 each, I'll sell each of them to you for $90 so you
can make a nice profit.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Keith F. Lynch

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone
thought of SI units, it means 100 times.

Oh? I have lots of coins marked as worth "one cent." Since you think
they're worth $100 each, I'll sell each of them to you for $90 so you
can make a nice profit.

Yes. There are exceptions. But consider:

centurion: Roman non-commissioned officer in charge of 100 soldiers,
not 0.01 soldier
century: 100 years, not 3.65 days
centenary (US centennial): commemorating the 100th anniversary, not 3.65 days.

etc.

[Peter Moylan]

Post by Keith F. Lynch

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone
thought of SI units, it means 100 times.

Oh? I have lots of coins marked as worth "one cent." Since you think
they're worth $100 each, I'll sell each of them to you for $90 so you
can make a nice profit.

centurion: Roman non-commissioned officer in charge of 100 soldiers, not
0.01 soldier
century: 100 years, not 3.65 days
centenary (US centennial): commemorating the 100th anniversary, not 3.65 days.
etc.

May I suggest that "cent" is not "centi"?

[Phil Carmody]

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Keith F. Lynch

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone
thought of SI units, it means 100 times.

Oh? I have lots of coins marked as worth "one cent." Since you think
they're worth $100 each, I'll sell each of them to you for $90 so you
can make a nice profit.

centurion: Roman non-commissioned officer in charge of 100 soldiers, not
0.01 soldier
century: 100 years, not 3.65 days
centenary (US centennial): commemorating the 100th anniversary, not 3.65 days.
etc.

May I suggest that "cent" is not "centi"?

At this point, I'm tempted to throw either 10^600 or 10^303 big cats
amongst the pigeons.

Phil

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Phil Carmody

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Keith F. Lynch

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In
ordinary language, which existed a very long time before anyone
thought of SI units, it means 100 times.

Oh? I have lots of coins marked as worth "one cent." Since you think
they're worth $100 each, I'll sell each of them to you for $90 so you
can make a nice profit.

centurion: Roman non-commissioned officer in charge of 100 soldiers, not
0.01 soldier
century: 100 years, not 3.65 days
centenary (US centennial): commemorating the 100th anniversary, not 3.65 days.
etc.

May I suggest that "cent" is not "centi"?

At this point, I'm tempted to throw either 10^600 or 10^303 big cats
amongst the pigeons.

The biggest practical unit I know of is the Foe.
It equals 10^51 ergs (so 10^44 Joule) [1]
Hence the name, acronym for: (ten to the) Fifty One Ergs.

It is a practical unit for the energy output of supernovae,
which is typically about one foe.

Jan

[1] (many) Astronomers prefer to work in c.g.s. units.
(because these are far more practical)

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by J. J. Lodder
The biggest practical unit I know of is the Foe.
It equals 10^51 ergs (so 10^44 Joule) [1]
Hence the name, acronym for: (ten to the) Fifty One Ergs.
It is a practical unit for the energy output of supernovae,
which is typically about one foe.

Fee fy.

[lar3ryca]

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-thats-not-even-in-the-top-20/
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong.  It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In ordinary
language, which existed a very long time before anyone thought of SI
units, it means 100 times.
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by lar3ryca
I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

I acre = 0.4 * 1 hectare - roughly a half hectare.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Keith F. Lynch
According to
https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/09/dc-has-88-centi-millionaires-that

s-not-even-in-the-top-20/

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Keith F. Lynch
"Henley & Partners defines centi-millionaires as individuals with at
least $100 million in liquid investable assets."
This strikes me as triply wrong. It should mean total assets; it
shouldn't have a hyphen; and it should mean $10,000, whether you
interpret it as 1/100th of a million dollars or as one million cents.
Someone with a net worth of $100 million is a hectomillionaire.
At least that's not as bad as the use of "millionaire" to mean someone
with an annual income of one million dollars, which I've seen.

You're being unfair. OK, in SI units centi means 0.01 times. In ordinary
language, which existed a very long time before anyone thought of SI
units, it means 100 times.
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

The 'are' is the basic unit of area of the original metric system.
(10mx10m)
In the original metric system area and volume were taken to be
independent units, once established, and the metric prefixes apply.
The hectare is the common practical unit for things like farmland.
So 100 are, is 10 000 m^2, so 100mx100m.
If you buy a house with land the legal act of ownership may state
that you have bought 7 decare, 5 are, 3 deciare, and 1 centiare.
(written out in full, no fudging with commas)

Jan

[Steve Hayes]

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

A hectare is roughly 2,5 acres.

We also had morgen, and a morg was roughly 2 1/9 acres.

[Ruud Harmsen]

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

A hectare is roughly 2,5 acres.
We also had morgen, and a morg was roughly 2 1/9 acres.

Morgen, despite the -en, is singular AND plural ("can be ploughed in
one morning"), so there is no form *"morg".

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
As for hecto, in France they insist on telling us in terms of hectares
of say, Portugal at this moment, how much forest has been destroyed by
fire. The problem for me is that I don't have any mental picture of how
big a hectare is. I wish they'd use km^2.

I wish they'd use acres. I have no idea how big a hectare is, and i have
no interest in trying to figure it uot.

A hectare is roughly 2,5 acres.
We also had morgen, and a morg was roughly 2 1/9 acres.

From Dutch, obvously.
It was supposed to be the amount of land that could be plowed
in a single morning.
'Morg' would be an error in Dutch, don't know about Afrikaans.

Unsurprisingly, it varied widely between regions.
It is not typically Dutch, similar measures were used
all over western Europe.
German als has 'Tagwerk' for two 'Morgen'. (French 'Jour')

The 'Morgen' survives in some place names,

Jan