Dave Plowman wrote in message ...
In article ,
CRB wrote:
Well, regardless of where you start the scale, the bel must be a
'quantity' based on something as any unit is.

Not quite. A bel is a ratio, not a unit.

Why give it a name then if it is purely abstract?

FWIW, my dictionary says it's a unit for measuring sound.

Oh, it's not abstract, it's real enough. The point though, as already
made in another posting, is that it is dimensionless.

CRB