User Guide

Maple has a library of hundreds of scientific constants with units, including
element and isotope properties.
To support computations with uncertainties, Maple propagates errors through
computations.
Units
The Units package in Maple provides a library of units, and facilities for
using units in computations. It is fully extensible so that you can add units
as required.
Note: Some unit operations are available as task templates (see
Tools>Tasks>Browse) and through context menus.
Overview of Units
A dimension is a measurable quantity, for example, length or force. The set
of dimensions that are fundamental and independent are known as base di-
mensions.
In Maple, the base dimensions include length, mass, time, electric current,
thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, luminous intensity, in-
formation, and currency. For a complete list, run Units[GetDimensions]().
Complex dimensions measure other quantities in terms of a combination of
base dimensions. For example, the complex dimension force is a measurement
of .
Each dimension, base or complex, has associated units. (Base units measure
a base dimension. Complex units measure a complex dimension.) Maple
supports over forty units of length, including feet, miles, meters, angstroms,
microns, and astronomical units. A length must be measured in terms of a
unit, for example, a length of 2 parsecs.
Table 3.4 lists some dimensions, their corresponding base dimensions, and
example units.
3.5 Units, Scientific Constants, and Uncertainty • 97