All rules

One item given in two units that do not convert

unit-mismatchon by defaultJapanese / English

The same item in two units that do not convert ("5 km" and "3000 m")

Example

How to fix

Check which value is right and convert the other to match. Using one unit for an item throughout a document makes it easier to compare.

Why it matters

When one item is given as "Distance: 5 km" and later "Distance: 3000 m", the reader has to convert to find out which is right. It happens when the unit of one is rewritten and its number is not. Three places are read: values written as "Item: value" or "The item is value", and table cells, for the same item within one section; one value given in two units with the second in brackets ("180°C (350°F)", "300 kPa (about 44 psi)"); and an item of an ingredients table given in another unit in a step ("Soy sauce | 1 tablespoon" in the table, "30 ml of soy sauce" in a step), wherever in the document, against the first amount in the row (the first column when there is one per number of servings); only an amount larger than the one in the table is reported, since a smaller one may be a part of it. The kinds of quantity are length, mass, time, volume, data, temperature, pressure and area. A tsubo is 400/121 m² (about 3.306 m²). A tatami mat (畳) is not read as a unit of area: its size differs by region and building, and the advertising rules only set a minimum of 1.62 m². A tablespoon is 14.8 mL (US) or 15 mL (metric), a teaspoon 4.9 or 5 mL, a cup 240 mL (the US legal cup) or 250 mL, and either agrees. A rounded figure (1 mile and 1.6 km) agrees when the difference is within 2%, and a decimal also agrees within half of its last written digit (1.2 kg is 1.15 to 1.25 kg, so it agrees with 1,250 g; a whole number keeps the 2%, since its trailing zeros may or may not be rounding); two values side by side also agree when both could be roundings of one value at their last digits (44 psi to the unit, 100 miles to the ten). A temperature cannot be compared by a share, so it agrees within 15 °F (about 8 °C), less than one 25 °F step of an oven dial (conversion tables give 170 °C as 325 °F). A Fahrenheit figure below 32 °F is also compared as a difference (a rise of 0.5 °C is 0.9 °F). "degrees" alone is read as a temperature only when a word such as "oven" or "temperature" is on the same line.

What it does not flag

Values in the same unit (fact-conflict looks at those), of different kinds (a length and a mass), under different headings or parent items, and differences within 2% are left alone. GB and MB agree when they match at either 1000 or 1024. A temperature given in one unit only, an ingredient under another name, an amount with a fraction (1 1/2 cups), a step amount smaller than the table's, and amounts inside the table itself are left out of the bracket and ingredient comparisons. Values separated by a slash (1 GB / 500 MB) are not compared, since they may be alternatives.

Turning it off or relaxing it

This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/unit-mismatch.yaml