[WikiEN-l] Excessive units converstion?

Wed Nov 1 01:54:01 UTC 2006

George Herbert wrote:

>I just found this:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote#In Cold Blood
>
>Apparently some time ago, someone added a metric conversion (4 km^2)
>to the term "1,000 acres" in the quoted New York Times article.
>
>That's a direct historical quote - is an in-line metric units
>conversion appropriate within the quote?
>
>It seems to me like we shouldn't be doing that.
>
It's a questionable practice.  It is in square brackets to show that 
it's an addition, but I think a footnote would be better in this case.  
Why too is it in km^2 instead of hectares?

Ec