"Deane Yang" wrote Carlo Wood wrote:
English: meter per second Dutch: meter per seconde French: mtres par seconde German: meter pro sekunde Spanish: metro por segundo
I think that 'per' is as much english as 'divided by'. People who know english won't be confused by it.
There's no question that it can only be "per". Using "div" suggests that a mathematical division is being done when it is not - it is no more
Andy Little wrote: possible to divide a metre by a second than it is to divide an apple by an orange. "Per", meaning "for each", is the term used in scientific terminology, and so that it the term that should be used, if any. What other languages use is somewhat of a red herring. If you want to incorporate localisation, great, use the equivalent of "per" in your local language, but for the English version, don't worry about what the non-English-speaking world uses. "Per" is scientific and "div" is mathematical, so stick with the former only. Paul