.split() Qeustion

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:43:41 +0100, Chris Angelico wrote:

> A mole is as much a number (6e23) as the light year is a number
> (9.5e15).

Not quite. A mole (abbreviation: mol) is a name for a specific number, 
like couple (2) or dozen (12) or gross (144), only much bigger: 6.02e23. 
And I can't believe I still remember that value :-) It's normally used 
only for atoms, ions or molecules, but in principle you could talk about 
anything. E.g. the population of the world is a mere 1.2e-14 mol.

A light-year, on the other hand, is a dimensional quantity. Whereas mole 
is dimensionless, light-year has dimensions of Length, and therefore the 
value depends on the units you measure in:

1 light-year:

= 3.724697e+17 inches
= 0.30660139 parsec
= 9.4607305e+12 kilometres

etc.


-- 
Steven