~~~
Barton,
I agree entirely, in all engineering calculation equations, as much as possible,
we use the symbols of all mathematical and physical constants to express the
symbolic algebraic calculations we are working with. We evaluate for the actual
numerical values at the very last step. Suppose
(%i1) batch("C:/Program Files/Maxima-5.11.0/share/maxima/5.11.0/share/physics/physconst.mac")$
and from some equation we have arrived at our engineering result:
(%i359) %%c;
(%o359) %%c
So we evaluate it
(%i360) ev(%%c);
(%o360) %%c
no not yet, say then
(%i361) ev(%%c,bfloat);
(%o361) %%c
not yet, say then
(%i362) ev(%%c,numer : true);
(%o362) (299792458*m)/s
ok.
There may be room for discussion here but for me the word float
disambiguates to produce numerical values or numer.
Regards
Ed
~~~
At 02:20 PM 4/30/2007, Barton Willis wrote:
>It's not so uncommon to need to do a bunch of symbolic
>calculations before getting numerical values. If physconst
>set numer to true, a user would be stuck with numerical
>values. As much as possible, optional code shouldn't
>alter the global environment (other than introducing
>new functions).
>
>But we're glad you knew about (or learned about) numer : true.
>
>Barton