Decimal System

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the name given to any system of weights, measures, or money in which the unit is always multiplied by 10 or some power of 10 to give 10 power of 10 for a lower denoma higher denomination, and divided by ination. This system has been rigidly carried out in F France, and the principle is observed in the coinage of Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United States, and other countries. To express the higher denominations, that is to say , the unit multiplied by 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, the French make use of the prefixes déca, hecta, kilo, myria , derived from the Greek; thus the meter being the unit of length, decameter is 10 meters, hectometer 100 meters, kilometer 1,000 meters. To express lower denominations, that is, tenths, hundredths, etc., the Latin prefixes déci, centi, milli are used in the same way; thus a centiliter is the hundredth part of a liter, deciliter the tenth part of a liter. The basis of the whole system is the linear measure, the unit of which is the meter, supposed to be the ten-millionth part of a quadrant of the earth's meridian (39.37 inches). The square of 10 meters, or square decameter, called an are, is the unit of surface measure. The cube of the tenth part of the meter , or cubic decimeter, called liter , is the unit of liquid capacity. The cube of the meter, called a stère, is the unit of solid measure. The weight of a cubic centimeter of distilled water at 39.2° F. (4° C.), called a gramme, is the unit of weight. The unit of money is the franc, which is divided into decimes and centimes.