ISO 31

International Standard ISO 31 (Quantities and units, International Organization for Standardization, 1992) was the most widely respected style guide for the use of physical quantities and units of measurement, and formulas involving them, in scientific and educational documents worldwide. In most countries, the notations used in mathematics and science textbooks at schools and universities follow closely the guidelines given by ISO 31. It is now superseded by the harmonized ISO/IEC 80000 standard.

Parts

The standard comes in 14 parts:

A second international standard on quantities and units was IEC 60027 . The ISO 31 and IEC 60027 Standards were revised by the two standardization organizations in collaboration (, ) to integrate both standards into a joint standard ISO/IEC 80000 - Quantities and Units in which the quantities and equations used with SI are to be referred as the International System of Quantities (ISQ). ISO/IEC 80000 supersedes both ISO 31 and part of IEC 60027.

Coined words

ISO 31-0 introduced several new words into the English language that are direct spelling-calques from the French.[1] The intention was that these words be used in scientific papers for the sake of convenience and clarity.

New phrase Existing phrase Technical meaning
massic <quantity> specific <quantity> a quantity divided by its associated mass
volumic <quantity> [volumic] <quantity> density a quantity divided by its associated volume
areic <quantity> surface <quantity> density a quantity divided by its associated area
lineic <quantity> linear <quantity> density a quantity divided by its associated length

Related national standards

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ NIST SP811(§8.9)

References

External links