Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1 - 16

fundamentalsmeasurement continued
of
Finally, note that this framework does not provide any
specification about the distinction qualitative versus quantitative
that thus remains partly conventional. For example,
according to the VIM, a total order is sufficient for a property
to be a quantity, whereas the axiomatic approaches developed
from Holder's [13] consider " continuity as a feature of the scientific
concept of quantity " . In the traditional perspective that
assumes being quantitative a necessary condition for a property
to be measurable, this diversity is perplexing [14]. As we
have seen, Basic Evaluation Equations apply with only minor
differences irrespective of property types; while evaluations
in algebraically richer scales provide more structural information,
our society needs to rely on trustworthy information
also on nominal or ordinal properties, by means of " widely
defined " or " weakly defined " measurements [15]. This is the
broader picture we will pursue in the other papers of this series
about fundamentals of measurement.
References
[1] " Metrology in short, " EURAMET, 3rd
ed., 2008. [Online].
Available: https://www.euramet.org/publications-mediacentre/documents/metrology-in-short.
[2]
L. Mari, P. Carbone, and D. Petri, " Measurement fundamentals:
a pragmatic view, " IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 61, no. 8, pp.
2107-2115, Aug. 2012.
[3] L. Mari and D. Petri, " Measurement science: constructing bridges
between reality and knowledge, " IEEE Instr. Meas. Mag., vol. 17,
no. 6, 2014.
[4] " Evolving needs for metrology in trade, industry and society
and the role of the BIPM-a report prepared by the CIPM for the
governments of the member states of the Metre Convention, "
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, 2003, https://www.
bipm.org/documents/20126/17315032/Kaarls2003-EN.pdf.
[5] L. Mari and D. Petri, " The metrological culture in the context of
big data: managing data-driven decision confidence, " IEEE Instr.
Meas. Mag., vol. 20, no. 5, 2017.
[6] D. Petri, " Big data, dataism and measurement, " IEEE Instr. Meas.
Mag., vol. 23, no. 3, 2020.
[7] International Vocabulary of Metrology-Basic and General Concepts
and Associated Terms (VIM), 3rd ed., 2012. JCGM 200: 2012, Joint
Committee for Guides in Metrology. [Online]. Available: https://
www.bipm.org/documents/20126/2071204/JCGM_200_2012.pdf.
[8] SI Brochure: The International System of Units (SI) 9th ed. (BIPM
2019). Distributed under the terms of Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 IGO. [Online]. Available: https://www.bipm.org/
en/publications/si-brochure.
Luca Mari (lmari@liuc.it) is a Full Professor in measurement
science with Università Cattaneo - LIUC, Castellanza, Italy,
where he teaches courses about measurement science, statistical
data analysis, and systems theory. He received the M.Sc.
degree in physics from the University of Milano, Italy in 1987
and the Ph.D. degree in measurement science from the Polytechnic
of Torino, Italy in 1993. Dr. Mari has been the Chair
of the TC7 (Measurement Science) of the International Measurement
Confederation (IMEKO) and the Chair of the TC1
(Terminology) and the Secretary of the TC25 (Quantities and
units) of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
He is an IEC Expert in the WG2 (VIM) of the Joint Committee
for Guides in Metrology (JCGM).
Dario Petri (dario.petri@unitn.it) is a Full Professor in measurement
science and electronic instrumentation at the
Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of
Trento, Italy. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics
engineering from the University of Padua, Italy in 1986
and 1990, respectively. He is an IEEE Fellow member and the
recipient of the 2020 IEEE Joseph F. Keithley Award for " contributions
to measurement fundamentals and signal processing
techniques in instrumentation and measurement. " Dr. Petri's
research activities are focused on digital signal processing applied
to measurement problems, data acquisition systems, and
fundamentals of measurement science.
[9] L. Mari, M. Wilson, and A. Maul, Measurement Across the Sciences
- Developing a Shared Concept System for Measurement. Cham,
Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2021.
[10] S. S. Stevens, " On the theory of scales of measurement, " Science,
vol. 103, pp. 667-680, 1946.
[11] G. B. Rossi, " Measurability, " Measurement, vol. 40, pp. 545-562,
2007.
[12] A. Giordani and L. Mari, " Property evaluation types, "
Measurement, vol. 45, pp. 437-452, 2012.
[13] O. Holder, " The axioms of quantity and the theory of
measurement, " Reports on the negotiations of the Royal Saxon
Society of Sciences in Leipzig, mathematical-physical class, from
1901. Transl. by J. Michell, C. Ernst, J. Mathematical Psychology, vol.
40, pp. 235-252, 1996.
[14] L. Mari, A. Maul, D. Torres Irribarra, and M. Wilson, " Quantities,
quantification, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for
measurement, " Measurement, vol. 100, pp. 115-121, 2017.
[15] L. Finkelstein, " Widely, strongly and weakly defined
measurement, " Measurement, vol. 34, pp. 39-48, 2003.
16
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
February 2023

https://www.euramet.org/publications-media-centre/documents/metrology-in-short https://www.euramet.org/publications-media-centre/documents/metrology-in-short http://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/17315032/Kaarls2003-EN.pdf http://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/17315032/Kaarls2003-EN.pdf http://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/2071204/JCGM_200_2012.pdf http://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/2071204/JCGM_200_2012.pdf https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure

Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1

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