3 ms·
This is something I can't quite wrap my head around. Why would I want the symbol for a unit to be similar to a constant that I will very often use in the same
by amalcon 16y ago
This is something I can't quite wrap my head around. Why would I want the symbol for a unit to be similar to a constant that I will very often use in the same calculations? That has a good chance of ruining my dimensional analysis if I finish up a calculation later. A bathroom break could convert 2 * pi radians into 1 cycle * radian, or 1 cycle into a unitless 2 * pi.
- loup-vaillant 16y agoAnd these conversions would be correct, wouldn't they? Radians are length ratios, and as such dimensionless anyway.
- amalcon 16y agoWhile not technically required, it's pretty convenient to treat radians as their own "angle" dimension. This lets you distinguish an angular velocity from a simple periodic repetition. The latter happen to rarely (never?) occur naturally, but I run into artificial ones often enough.