Chapter 3 - Quantities

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the quantities. Many of the uses of scale in ecology are connected to the concept of scaled quantities, which link theory to measurement via scaled numbers. Ecologists, like all natural scientists, work with definable quantities, not with numbers divorced from units of measurement. A quantity consists of a name, symbol, procedural statement, numbers, and units of measurement. The rules of clear communication apply to the procedural statement, name, and symbol. The procedural statement should permit replication of the measurements. The name should convey a sense of the quantity. The symbol should be unique yet lend itself to easy visualization of the quantity for which it stands. Units occur on four types of measurement scale: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The mathematical rules that apply to scaled quantities are more restrictive than those that apply to numbers.