Alternative Meaning
See also: Decimal timeMetric time is sometimes used to mean decimal time. Metric time properly refers to measurement of time interval, while decimal time refers to the time of day. Standard time of day is defined by various time scales, such as UTC, which are now usually based upon the metric base unit of time, the second. Some proposals for alternative units of metric time are accompanied by decimal time scales for telling the time of day based upon these alternative units. Other proposals called "metric time" refer only to decimal time, and therefore are not truly metric.
French decimal time is sometimes called "metric time" because it was introduced around the same time as the metric system and both were decimal, but the April 7, 1795, decree creating the original metric units and prefixes actually suspended the previous decimal time decree, which had named the units hour, minute and second instead of using metric prefixes.
Read more about this topic: Metric Time
Famous quotes containing the words alternative and/or meaning:
“It is a secret from nobody that the famous random event is most likely to arise from those parts of the world where the old adage “There is no alternative to victory” retains a high degree of plausibility.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“He would declare and could himself believe
That the birds there in all the garden round
From having heard the daylong voice of Eve
Had added to their own an oversound,
Her tone of meaning but without the words.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)