Your Math Teacher Was Right About Units
Remember how silly it seemed when your fourth grade math teacher
insisted you always include units next to numbers that describe real world things? …Like 10 inches instead of just 10, or 30 days instead of 30. Showing early signs of the smartass I was to develop in to, I always thought, “This is totally unnecessary. Of course I’m going to remember what it is, I’m the one who wrote it.”
That’s all fine when you’re doing a homework assignment, but when you’re trying to communicate information to someone who may not be in the same room as you, data is flat and useless without units(and context). It’s bad explanation practice.
Case in point: Look at this graph that’s included in my water bill each month:
What the heck is a CCF? What do the water usage habits of others look like? What can this graph tell me? I suppose just knowing how I’m using water month-to-month is better than nothing, but if you’re going to go to the trouble to include this chart the least you could do is tell me what a “CCF” is. I can’t imagine most average citizens can make any meaning out of that abbreviation. Also, based on things like temperature and seasonality, I’m sure my water needs differ from month to month. How about helping me account for that? And what would be super-awesome is if you’d give me some frame of reference for my data. Am I a total water slob or a miser? What are some ways I could work on this? How will I know next month if I’m doing better?
