Re: quantity database

• To: visad-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: Re: quantity database
• From: Steve Emmerson <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 12:25:41 -0600

Tom,

>Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 12:54:09 CDT 
>From: Tom Whittaker <tomw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Steve Emmerson)
>Subject: Re: quantity database 

In the above message, you wrote:

> Second: One of the most interesting (and useful) charts that I received
> during my undergrad 'career' was a representation of quantity names
> using a 3-D matrix for powers (and inverse powers) of Length, Mass, and
> Time.  In each box, the "unit dimensional" quantity was shown (like:
> 
>                  1  -2
>                 L  T 
>                    acceleration
> 
> Not every box had a name, but the ability to relate to a quantity
> without introducing specific units systems was an extraordinary aid to
> dimensional analysis.  I would think this sort of thing would be
> critical when users start combining parameters with units attached.
> Steve, has anyone looked into this type of thing for use with udunits?

It would be very easy to support this in the VisAD Unit class.

--------
Steve Emmerson   <http://www.unidata.ucar.edu>

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