James Clerk Maxwell on quantities and units

TL;DR

This paper clarifies that the common attribution of the equation $Q= ext{value} imes ext{unit}$ to James Clerk Maxwell is incorrect, providing historical and textual analysis to correct the record.

Contribution

It refutes the claim that Maxwell originated the quantity-unit equation, offering a detailed examination of Maxwell's writings and historical context.

Findings

The equation $Q= ext{value} imes ext{unit}$ predates Maxwell.

Maxwell did not explicitly formulate this equation in his works.

The attribution to Maxwell is historically unjustified.

Abstract

In the scientific literature the equation $Q=\{Q\}[Q]$ is frequently quoted, where $Q$ denotes a quantity, $\{Q\}$ a numerical value, and $[Q]$ a unit. During the last years some experts claimed, that this equation is due to James Clerk Maxwell. This is obvious, they say, from the opening sentences at the beginning of Maxwell's book "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism". In this paper it will be shown that this view cannot be justified.