Template:Ma/doc

Geological timescale template

Usage

DO NOT SUBST THIS TEMPLATE. When the numerical ages of the geological periods are refined, this template will always provide the most up-to-date age.

Use the format {{Ma|Years_ago|Suffix|error=Error|round=Degree of accuracy}}

Years_ago can take a number (don't include commas, which are added automatically), or a period name (e.g. Cambrian), in which case it will return the date the period started.

Suffix is optional and defaults to "million years ago".

Error is an uncertainty and will be displayed as ± error. If a non-numeric value is entered, it will show the error associated with the period specified in Years_ago.

Degree of accuracy is the point at which to round the figure, as per the #expr: parserfunction. 0 will chop the figure at the decimal point; -1 will round it to the nearest 10; 1 will allow one decimal place.

Examples

• {{mya|65|million years old}}

gives

65 million years old

(and the "million years old" will not wrap; it will remain on the same line.)

• {{mya|Cambrian|MA|error=show}}

gives

541± 1.0 MA

• {{Ma|250.9876|error=5|round=2}}

gives

250.99 ± 5 million years ago

• To cite a range of years, {{Ma|250|65}}

gives

250 to 65 million years ago

Rationale

With geological time, it is often genuinely useful for the lay reader, with little grasp of how long ago 500 million years really is, to be able to quickly flick to a timescale.

Hence, this template allows an easy way to implement such links.

See also

• {{Gigaannum}}
• {{val}}
• {{convert}}
• {{gaps}}
• Wikipedia: Manual of Style/Dates and numbers

Comments

Please address comments about the functioning of this template to Template talk:Ma, and about the design or content of the destination page at User_talk:Smith609/Timeline.