Measurement

Measurement is the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events.

Description

The scope and application of a measurement is dependent on the context and discipline.

In the natural sciences and engineering, measurements do not apply to nominal properties of objects or events, which is consistent with the guidelines of the International vocabulary of metrology published by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

However, in other fields such as statistics as well as the social and behavioral sciences, measurements can have multiple levels, which would include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales.

Measurement is a cornerstone of trade, science, technology, and quantitative research in many disciplines.

History

Historically, many measurement systems existed for the varied fields of human existence to facilitate comparisons in these fields.

Often these were achieved by local agreements between trading partners or collaborators.

International System of Units (SI)

Since the 18th century, developments progressed towards unifying, widely accepted standards that resulted in the modern International System of Units (SI).

This system reduces all physical measurements to a mathematical combination of seven base units.

Metrology

The science of measurement is pursued in the field of metrology.

See also

• Dependent and independent variables
• Geometry
• Level of measurement
• Mathematics
• Number
• Parallax
• Parameter
• Physical body
• Physics
• Quantitative
• Quantity
• Science
• Scientific method

External links

• Measurement @ Wikipedia