Mentioning a physical unit after a series of values

Question

I have problem deciding which one of the following sentences is correct considering the usage of second(s):

Computation times of the proposed algorithms are in the orders of 10^-3 and 10^-4 seconds, which are small compared to the sampling times of 0.1 and 1 second.

Computation times of the proposed algorithms are in the orders of 10^-3 seconds and 10^-4 seconds, which are small compared to the sampling times of 0.1 second and 1 second.

Both look strange to me regarding the usage of second(s). The first one looks redundant, and the second one seems inadequate.

'Serie' is obsloete in English. The plural is invariant: 1 series, 2 series, a million series. — Edwin Ashworth, Aug 22 '21 at 15:48
I would take a look at print examples in your field. You might find s or sec is more common, and it saves space. I see no reason to write it out in full when it's being used as a unit after a number. — DjinTonic, Aug 22 '21 at 15:52
0.1 seconds and 1 second ...or... 0.1 and 1 seconds. Best: 0.1 and 1 .0 seconds. — Tinfoil Hat, Aug 22 '21 at 16:28
And it isn't in the orders of, it's on the order of. Don't pluralize order here, it is an adverbial. You can add a respectively if it feels better to you. It's a different kind of order from on the orders of Captain Ahab — Phil Sweet, Aug 23 '21 at 00:57
Related: CMoS FAQ, and also this question, this one, and this one. — linguisticturn, Aug 23 '21 at 04:09

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 22 '21 at 18:13

For some reason people use the plural for both values above 1 (as you would expect)and below 1. e.g.

0.5 seconds 1 second 2 seconds

and people tend to say "1.0 seconds"

"0.1 and 1 second" is a problem. You don't really want to use "0.1 seconds and 1 second" because, whilst not incorrect, is sounds verbose. And "0.1 and 1 second" sounds wrong.

Tinfoil Hat's solution is to say "0.1 and 1.0 seconds" which is perfect English but I think may not be scientifically correct. The presence and number of decimal places is typically used to indicate precision so 1 second and 1.0 seconds are not necessarily the same in precise meaning, if you see what I mean.

Of course the problem disappears if you use the ordinary English abbreviation "sec." or the standard SI Unit abbreviation of "s".

Mentioning a physical unit after a series of values

1 Answers1