[Wikipedia-l] Metric v. English

[Erik Moeller]

> The article that started this discussion is a case in point.  "Europe
> added almost 23,000,000 km^2" or "Europe added almost 9,000,000 mi^2"
> are both approximate statements.  An automatic conversion would give
> an unwarranted impression of precision in this case.

Just add a ~ or ~~ before the number to indicate the degree of imprecision  
and the converter finds the best approximation.

Regards,

Erik