It is a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get right up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week is already well advanced and I am correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy getting up in those days.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales does not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide at night to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter another numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today the moment I leave the house. And although it is just a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that little bit of advice. Once I reach the car, I’m met by the next numeral. Refundable at work will probably be delayed by a short while because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. As soon as I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something that I really do not check often enough. Also, while my fuel tank is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has taken the trouble to check on the fuel pump utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. You will want to? You see, it really is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything regularly. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended way to work takes me past a large building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with the cranes ? once again with that inner eye of mine ? I can see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will be monitored, and angles are receiving measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY had the time, I would stand at the boundary like a small boy and stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the business and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. No matter what we do, and where we may go, measurements are omnipresent. Once you start great deal of thought, the list just keeps getting longer: I see the world in numerals because we at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We can build scales with load cells, and we are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three various ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we are able to calculate angles. We can make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.