On 19/12/12 08:53, Gregor Hagedorn wrote:

I agree. What I propose is that the user interface supports entering
and proofreading "10.6 nm" as "10.6" plus "n" (= nano) plus "meter".
How the value is stored in the data property, whether as 10.6 floating
point or as 1.6e-8 is a second issue -- the latter is probably
preferable. I only intend to show that scientific values are not

Perhaps both should be stored. 1.6e-8 is necessary for sorting and comparison. But 10.6 nm is how the user entered it, presumably how it was written in the source that the user used, how is it preferably used in the given field, and how other users would want to see it and edit it.

As an example, human height is commonly given in centimetres, while building height is commonly given in metres. So, users will probably prefer to edit the tallest person as 282cm and the lowest building as 2.1m even though the absolute values are similar.

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