Quantities, Quantification, and the Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Measurement

Abstract

Although measurement has been an important component of human activities for millennia, it remains remarkably difficult to provide a fully satisfactory definition of the concept. In part this is due to the fact that measurement is a diverse and dynamic human activity, and takes shape in a wide variety of ways depending on the nature of the subject matter, application, and context. If a definition of measurement is to pay respect to this basic fact, it cannot be so narrowly construed as to apply to only one area of scientific activity (e.g., physics); on the other hand, the definition cannot be so permissive as to trivialize the concept to the point that measurement is not recognizably superi..