Edward,
You might consider this other units package, ezunits.
http://maxima.cvs.sourceforge.net/maxima/maxima/share/contrib/ezunits/
I've just committed some changes, which will appear in the 5.14.0
release, or you can get the ezunits.mac from cvs.
Ezunits is a rather simple-minded units package.
Units are indicated by a backtick ` character, e.g. 100 ` m.
Units need not be declared or set up before using them; a unit
is anything which appears on the rhs of the backtick.
It doesn't attempt to convert units automatically, you can request
that units be converted, e.g. 100 ` m ` ft converts m to ft.
It doesn't try to disallow some conversions; maybe that should be
optional.
A few examples.
load (ezunits);
11 ` sheep + 6 ` sheep;
=> 17 ` sheep
(7 ` sheep)^3;
=> 343 ` sheep^3
17 ` sheep + 19 ` goats;
=> 19 ` goats + 17 ` sheep
17 ` sheep + 19 ` goats, sheep=100 * US\$, goats=50 * US\$;
=> 2650 ` US$
/* Stefan-Boltzmann constant */
56697/10000/10^8 ` W/m^2/K^4 ` Btu/h/ft^2/R^4;
=> 18899/10619175641040 ` Btu/h/ft^2/R^4
... and converting Fahrenheit to Celsius:
-40 ` degF ` degC;
=> (- 40) ` degC
0 ` degC ` degF;
=> 32 ` degF
212 ` degF ` degC;
=> 100 ` degC
Sorry, there isn't any documentation yet, although rtestezunits.mac
has many examples. Still in progress so I'll be interested to hear
any comments.
HTH
Robert Dodier