Scale
Definition
A unit of measure that, when paired with a number, unambiguously describes the magnitude of a physical quantity.
Notes
Example:
centimetre, kilogram per minute, degree Celsius, lunar distance, kilo-lines of code
Scope note:
Arguably, IDO conflates the notions of "unit of measure" and "scale" in an unhealthy way. While a unit of measure is a definite magnitude, a scale arises from fixing a number range to express multiples of the unit of measure. One may argue that a unit of measure has an implicit scale, obtained by multiplying the unit by any number; this will then allow for undefined or meaningless expressions like "minus 10 Kelvin".
Iof usage note:
'scale' corresponds to the common sense notion of unit of measure which unambiguously defines the magnitude of the measure.
OWL data ranges can capture the acceptable numerical range for a scale. For instance, the 'datum value' of any 'quality datum' that has Celsius as 'datum uom' can be limited to the range from -273.15 upwards to infinity.
