3 ms·
Let's say the width of your desk is denoted by "w". The length is then 1.7w. The aspect ratio is dimensionless because it is = 1.7w/1w. w/w = dimensionless. But
by bobcostas55 11y ago
Let's say the width of your desk is denoted by "w". The length is then 1.7w. The aspect ratio is dimensionless because it is = 1.7w/1w. w/w = dimensionless. But you still used a unit, w, to make the measurement in the first place.
- contravariant 11y agoHe could have measured the angle of the desk's diagonal makes with the longer side, that would give him tan(w/l), no inches or centimetres required. You do need radians, but that's not a unit in the same way a 'meter' is, you don't need any kind of reference to know how much, say, 1 pi radians is. For most intents and purposes angles are unitless.
- kazinator 11y agoThat is inescapable for any quantity whatsoever that we extract from nature. In dimensionless quantities, the units just canceled out. Amperes divided by amperes, or whatever. See root comment. I do not have to specify the units that I used when I quote the aspect ratio, or the method that I used.