The origins of the meter go back to at least the 18th century. At that time, there were two competing approaches to the definition of a standard unit of length. Some suggested defining the meter as ... Continue reading
A circle is the round counterpart of a square. To find the area of a square, one multiplies the length by the width. A circle doesn't have these, however, so there has to be a different way to ... Continue reading
Many concepts that we all take for granted sounded strange and foreign when first introduced. Take the number zero for instance. Any first-grader can recognize and use zeros. They sound so logical and ... Continue reading
Originally, each country had its own, and rather poorly reproducible, unit of luminous intensity; it was necessary to wait until 1909 to see a beginning of unification on the international level, when ... Continue reading
