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unitconv

Description

Conversion of units of measurement.

Usage

(require-extension unitconv)

Documentation

The unitconv library is an implementation of unit conversion routines based on the paper by Gordon S. Novak:

Conversion of Units of Measurement.
IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, vol. 21, no. 8 (Aug. 1995), pp. 651-661.

(Available online at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/units95.html).

Correctness of unit conversion is established by the technique of dimensional analysis: the source and goal units must have the same dimensions. Following Novak, this extension defines a dimension as an 8-vector of integral powers of the following base quantities:

 (define-base-quantity  Unity          0)
 (define-base-quantity  Length         dimvals[0])
 (define-base-quantity  Time           dimvals[1])
 (define-base-quantity  Temperature    dimvals[2])
 (define-base-quantity  Mass           dimvals[3])
 (define-base-quantity  Current        dimvals[4])
 (define-base-quantity  Luminosity     dimvals[5])
 (define-base-quantity  Substance      dimvals[6])
 (define-base-quantity  Currency       dimvals[7])
 (define-base-quantity  Information    dimvals[8])

The unit conversion routine uses dimension integers to check that the requested unit conversion is legitimate. For example, the conversion from kilograms to meters illegal. Consequently, the dimensionality of each unit must be specified when the unit is declared.


 ;; Syntax is (define-unit name quantity factor abbreviation ...)
 
 ;; define units of length
 (define-unit meter     Length 1.0       m meters)
 (define-unit inch      Length 0.0254    in inches)
 
 ;; define units of mass and time
 (define-unit kilogram  Mass   1.0       kg kilograms)
 (define-unit second    Time   1.0       s seconds)
 
 ;; define two new derived quantities: acceleration and force
 (define-quantity   Acceleration  (/ Length (** Time 2)))
 (define-quantity   Force         (* Mass Acceleration))
 
 ;; define a unit of force
 (define-unit newton       Force (/ (* kilogram meter) (* second second)) nt newtons)

Now only conversion between units of the same dimensionality is permitted:

 (unit-convert meter inch 1) ->  39.3700787401575
 (unit-convert meter inch 2 3 4) ->  (78.740157480315 118.110236220472 157.48031496063)
 
 (unit-convert meter kilogram 1)
 Error: (unitconv) unit-convert : given units are of different dimensions: 
  source= #(unit meter (m meters) [Length] 1.0) ; 
  dest=  #(unit kilogram (kg kilograms) [Mass] 1.0)

Procedures and Macros

[procedure] unit-convert:: SRC * DEST * [VAL1 ...] -> (FACTOR1 ... )

Converts the given numeric values expressed in unit SRC to their equivalents in unit DEST.

Arguments SRC, DEST are records of type unit. See the definitions below for information about the units that are defined by this extension, as well as for information about creating new units.

[procedure] unit-equal?:: UNIT1 * UNIT2 -> BOOL

Returns true if the two units have the same dimension and factor, false otherwise.

[syntax] (define-quantity name expr)

Defines a derivative quantity NAME.

EXPR is an S-expression with the following syntax:

quantity-expr ::=  base-quantity
                 | derived-quantity
                 | (* quantity-expr quantity-expr)
                 | (* quantity-expr integer)
                 | (/ quantity-expr quantity-expr)
                 | (/ quantity-expr integer)
                 | (** quantity-expr integer)

where

base-quantity
one of the predefined base quantities
derived-quantity
a quantity created by define-quantity
**
exponentiation operator
[syntax] (define-unit name dims factor . abbrevs)

Defines a variable NAME that holds a unit definition of a unit with the given dimension and factor.

DIMS can be either one of the base quantities (see next section) or a derivative quantity created by define-quantity.

[syntax] (define-prefix-unit unit prefix . abbrevs)

Defines a variable whose name is the concatenated PREFIX and UNIT and that holds a unit definition of the given unit and prefix.

Predefined Quantities

Base Quantities

Unity (dimensionless)
Length
Time
Temperature
Mass
Current
Luminosity
Substance
Currency
Information

Derived Quantities

Geometry
Area
(** Length 2)
Volume
(** Length 3)
Mechanics
Velocity
(/ Length Time)
Acceleration
(/ Length (** Time 2))
Force
(* Mass Acceleration)
Pressure
(/ Force Area)
Energy
(* Force Length)
Power
(/ Energy Time)
Electricity
Charge
(* Current Time)
Potential
(/ Energy Charge)
Capacitance
(/ Charge Potential)
Resistance
(/ Potential Current)
Conductance
(/ Current Potential)
Inductance
(/ (* Potential Time) Current)
Chemistry
Concentration
(/ Substance Volume)
Density
(/ Mass Volume)
Optics
Luminance
(/ Luminosity Area)
Other
Frequency
(/ Unity Time)
Rate
(/ Information Time)

Predefined Units

SI Unit Prefixes

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
yocto Unity 1e-24
zepto Unity 1e-21
atto Unity 1e-18
femto Unity 1e-15
pico Unity 1e-12
nano Unity 1e-09
micro Unity 1e-06
milli Unity 0.001
centi Unity 0.01
deci Unity 0.1
deca Unity 10.0
hecto Unity 100.0
kilo Unity 1000.0
mega Unity 1000000.0
giga Unity 1000000000.0
tera Unity 1000000000000.0
peta Unity 1e+15
exa Unity 1e+18
zetta Unity 1e+21
yotta Unity 1e+24

IEC Standard Prefixes

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
kibi Unity 1024
mebi Unity 1048576
gibi Unity 1073741824.0
tebi Unity 1099511627776.0
pebi Unity 1.12589990684262e+15
exbi Unity 1.15292150460685e+18
zebi Unity 1.18059162071741e+21
yobi Unity 1.20892581961463e+24

Time Multiples

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
twelve Unity 12
sixty Unity 60

Angles

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
radian Unity 1.0 (rad radians)
degree Unity (/ pi 180) (deg degrees)

Units of Length

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
meter Length 1.0 (m meters)
inch Length 0.0254 (in inches)
foot Length 0.3048 (ft feet)
angstrom Length 1e-10 (ang angstroms)
parsec Length 3.083e+16 (parsecs)

Units of Area and Volume

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
square-meter Area (* meter meter) (m^2 m2 meter-squared meters-squared square-meters)
square-inch Area (* inch inch) (in^2 inch-squared inches-squared square-inches)
square-micron Area (* micrometer micrometer) (um^2 micrometer-squared micrometers-squared micron-squared microns-squared square-microns)
square-millimeter Area (* millimeter millimeter) (mm^2 millimeter-squared millimeters-squared square-millimeters)
cubic-meter Volume (* meter (* meter meter)) (m^3 meter-cubed meters-cubed cubic-meters)
liter Volume (* 0.001 cubic-meter) (L litre liters)

Units of Mass

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
kilogram Mass 1.0 (kg kilograms)
gram Mass 0.001 (g grams)
pound Mass (* gram 453.59237) (lb pounds)
slug Mass (* pound 32.17405) (slugs)
atomic-mass-unit Mass 1.6605402e-27 (amu atomic-mass-units)

Units of Time

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
second Time 1.0 (s seconds)
hour Time (* sixty (* sixty second)) (h hrs hours)

Units of Acceleration

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
meters-per-second-squared Acceleration (/ meter (* second second)) (m/s2 m/s^2 m/sec2 m/sec^2)

Units of Frequency

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
hertz Frequency 1.0 (hz)

Units of Force

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
newton Force (/ (* kilogram meter) (* second second)) (nt newtons)
pound-force Force (/ (* slug foot) (* second second)) (lbf)

Units of Power

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
watt Power (/ (* kilogram meter meter) (* second second second)) (W watts)
horsepower Power (* 550 (/ (* foot pound-force) second)) (hp)

Units of Energy

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
joule Energy (* newton meter) (J joules)
electron-volt Energy (* 1.60217733e-19 joule) (ev electron-volts)
kilowatt-hour Energy (* kilo (* watt hour)) (kwh kilowatt-hours)
calorie Energy (* 4.184 joule) (cal calories)
erg Energy (* 1e-07 joule) (ergs)
british-thermal-unit Energy (* 1055.056 joule) (btu btus)

Units of Current

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
ampere Current 1.0 (A amp amps amperes)

Units of Electric Charge

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
coulomb Charge (* ampere second) (C coulombs)

Units of Electric Potential

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
volt Potential (/ (* kilogram meter meter) (* ampere second second second)) (V volts)

Units of Resistance

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
ohm Resistance (/ volt ampere) (ohms)

Units of Capacitance

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
farad Capacitance (/ coulomb volt) (F farads)

Units of Conductance

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
siemens Conductance (/ ampere volt) (S mho)

Units of Inductance

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
henry Inductance (/ (* meter meter kilogram) (* ampere ampere second second)) (H)

Units of Substance

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
mole Substance 1.0 (mol moles)

Units of density

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
rho Density (/ kilogram cubic-meter)

Units of concentration

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
molarity Concentration (/ mole liter) (M mol/L)
parts-per-million Concentration (/ milligram kilogram) (ppm)

Units of temperature

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
degK Temperature 1.0 (K)

Units of information

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
bit Information 1 (b bits shannon shannons Sh)
byte Information 8 (B bytes)
nat Information 1.44269504088896 (nats nit nits nepit nepits)
ban Information 3.32192809488736 (bans hartley hartleys Hart Harts dit dits)

Units of information rate

Name Quantity Factor Abbreviation(s)
bits-per-second Rate (/ bit second) (bps)
bytes-per-second Rate (/ byte second) (Bps)

Arithmetic Operations with Units

The with-units library contains procedures for arithmetic operations on quantities with units. A quantity with unit information is created by procedure val-with-units:

(use unitconv with-units)
(val-with-units 10 m) ->  #(10 #(unit meter (m meters) [Length] 1.0))

The following operations are available for operations on quantities with units:

u:value
Returns the value of the given quantity.
u:units
Returns the unit of the given quantity.
u:equal?
Returns true if the units of the given quantities are equal, false otherwise.
u:zero?
u:=
u:negate
u:invert
u:+ u:- u:* u:/
u:sqrt
u:sin
u:cos
u:expt

About this egg

Author

Ivan Raikov

Version history

3.0
Ported to CHICKEN 5
2.6
Bugfixes in unit* and unit/
2.3
Added definitions for centimeter and centimeter-squared
2.2
Removed redundant definition of define-unit (reported by felix)
2.1
Documentation converted to wiki format
2.0
Added unit arithmetic (with-units)
1.8
Exporting all prefixed units; added info on information units [Joshua Griffith]
1.7
Exporting the Rate quantity
1.6
Exporting the IEC standard prefixes
1.5
Ported to Chicken 4
1.4
The predefined quantities have been put into unit-definitions.scm
1.3
Bug fix in unit-convert
1.2
Changed unit-convert to return a single numeric value given a single conversion argument
1.1
Added information units [patch by Joshua Griffith]
1.0
Initial release

License

Copyright 2007-2018 Ivan Raikov.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

A full copy of the GPL license can be found at
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.