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Do you know your height? What is it?
\n | Photo Credit: pxhere<\/p>\n
What is your height? This seemingly innocuous question, if you come to think of it, doesn\u2019t always hand you the same answer. No, I\u2019m not talking about the numerical part of the answer that is bound to be different for different people owing to their different heights. I am, instead, drawing your attention to the units that follow the numerical part of the answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For many of us, that answer could be in feet and inches. The rest of us, meanwhile, would stick to metres, the international system of units (Systeme International d\u2019Unites, SI). This difference was at the heart of the birth of the metre, especially during a time when there were no standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We live in a hyperconnected modern world where the accurate measurement \u2013 be it of length, weight, or anything else \u2013 and precise definition are non-negotiables. From the smallest of electronic gadgets to the largest of buildings or transportation systems, global economies today function in a way such that items that make up the whole are sourced from around the world. For this earthly jigsaw puzzle to function at scale, the interchangeability and reproducibility has to be a given as the pieces have to fit perfectly every time, right from the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We take this for granted now as we live in a time when the standards have been established beyond doubt and accuracy of measurement is probably at its best through history. Things, however, were rather different earlier, even if we were to dial back a little over 230 years and head to a time late in the 18th Century.\u00a0<\/p>\n