Obsolete National and Regional Systems

The essential part of the metric system is decimal numbers, with only one base unit and the multiples created on the decimal base. The first advocate for the use of decimal numbers for everyday purposes was Simon Stevin that wrote De Thiende in 1585. It is worth noting that the Indians have used decimal numbers for mathematical computations long before Simon Stevin. The notation for decimal fractions, developed by Simon Stevin was clumsy but was upgraded with the introduction of the decimal point which can be attributed to Bartholomaeus Pitiscus who used this notation in 1595 for his trigonometrical tables. In 1670 the proposal was published by Gabriel Mouton which is similar to the Wilkins proposal except that the base unit of length was 1/1000 of a minute of arc of geographical latitude which is about 1.852 \(\left[m\right]\). The base unit was named virga while other units of length in that system were combinations of series of names that had prefixes- similar to prefixes in the SI unit system. In 1790, the report was submitted to United States Congress by Thomas Jefferson in which he proposed the adoption of a decimal system and weights and measures. With the base unit foot.
From ancient times up to the adoption of the SI unit system, many countries have developed their unit system that consisted of length, area, capacity, and weight units. In some unit systems, two different capacity units were used i.e. one type of capacity unit was used for liquids while other types of capacity units were used for dry materials. In Western and Southern Europe the following unit systems that were used are: In Central and Norther Europe the following unit systems that were used are: In Africa the following unit systems that were used are: In Middle East and Asia the unit systems that were used are: In Central and South America the unit systems that were used are: In North America the following unit systems that were used are:

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