heat/cold ratios [Was: times lower than] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/5/2007 02:18 PM, Bill.Mullins wrote:
></engineer hat off>
>
>Having said all that, if someone says to me that today is twice as
>cold as yesterday, and all they really mean is that it is much
>colder now than it was then, fine.

</engineer hat also off>

I do agree with Bill that saying that one day is twice as cold as
another is less than logical; and that (in the Kelvin scale) one
ought to say a day is twice (or half) as warm.  But (speaking again
only about the Kelvin -- and Rankine -- scales), if someone said
"twice as cold" I would interpret that as "half as warm", and not argue.

</engineer hat on>

However, if someone was speaking Celsius or Farenheit and said "twice
as warm" or "twice as cold", I would argue that he was incorrect.

Joel

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