Exact and Easy: Decimalization in Early Modern England.
Thanks to the metrological hegemony of the metric system, decimalization is now synonymous with quantitative precision, efficient calculation, and objective understandability. But a historicization of decimalization with respect to measurements reminds us that such objectivity cannot be taken for gr...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 81 - 110 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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MIT Press
Summer2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=186156066&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 186156066 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00221953 JIH jtl: Journal of Interdisciplinary History issn: 00221953 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Summer2025 vid: 56 iid: 1 pid: 776 pub: MIT Press artinfo: ui: 186156066 10.1162/jinh.a.2 ppf: 81 ppct: 29 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 179KB tig: atl: Exact and Easy: Decimalization in Early Modern England. aug: au: Crowley, John E. su: Metric system Theory of knowledge Hegemony Objectivity Measurement sug: subj: Metric system Theory of knowledge Hegemony Objectivity Measurement ab: Thanks to the metrological hegemony of the metric system, decimalization is now synonymous with quantitative precision, efficient calculation, and objective understandability. But a historicization of decimalization with respect to measurements reminds us that such objectivity cannot be taken for granted. Using decimal fractions explicitly required that people set aside traditional measurements for money, land, commodities, and time. Two centuries before the development of the metric system, the application of decimalization explicitly encouraged anticustomary approaches to measurement. Drawing interdisciplinarily on mathematical history, metrological history, and quantitative epistemology, with Stuart England as a case study, this article shows that quantitatively minded people rapidly adopted decimal fractions for measurements because they had explicitly advantageous exactness and ease of calculation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Interdisciplinary History is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Interdisciplinary History holder: MIT Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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