Units for quantities of dimension one

Abstract

All quantities of dimension one are said to have the SI coherent derived unit “one” with the symbol ‘1’. (Single quotation marks are used here sometimes to indicate a quote, name, term or symbol; double quotation marks flag a concept when necessary.) Conventionally, the term and symbol may not be combined with the SI prefixes (except for the special terms and symbols for one and 1: radian, rad, and steradian, sr). This restriction is understandable, but leads to correct yet impractical alternatives and ISO deprecated symbols such as ppm or in some cases redundant combinations of units, such as mg/kg. “Number of entities” is dimensionally independent of the current base quantities and should take its rightful place among them. The corresponding base unit is “one”. A working definition is given. Other quantities of dimension one are derived as fraction, ratio, efficiency, relative quantity, relative increment or characteristic number and may also use the unit “one”, whether considered to be base or derived. The special term ‘uno’ and symbol ‘u’ in either case are proposed, allowing combination with SI prefixes.