User Guide

Table 3.4: Sample Dimensions
Example UnitsBase DimensionsDimension
second, minute, hour, day, week, month,
year, millennium, blink, lune
timeTime
joule, electron volt, erg, watt hour, calor-
ie, Calorie, British thermal unit
Energy
volt, abvolt, statvoltElectric potential
For the complete list of units (and their contexts and symbols) available for
a dimension, refer to the corresponding help page, for example, the
?Units/length help page for the units of length.
Each unit has a context. The context differentiates between different defini-
tions of the unit. For example, the standard and US survey miles are different
units of length, and the second is a unit of time and of angle. You can specify
the context for a unit by appending the context as an index to the unit, for
example, mile[US_survey]. If you do not specify a context, Maple uses the
default context.
Units are collected into systems, for example, the foot-pound-second (FPS)
system and international system, or système international, (SI). Each system
has a default set of units used for measurements. In the FPS system, the foot,
pound, and second are used to measure the dimensions of length, mass, and
time. The unit of speed is the foot/second. In SI, the meter, kilogram, and
second are used to measure the dimensions of length, mass, and time. The
units of speed, magnetic flux, and power are the meter/second, weber, and
watt.
Conversions
To convert a value measured in a unit to the corresponding value in a different
unit, use the Unit Converter.
• From the Tools menu, select Assistants, and then Unit Converter.
98 • 3 Performing Computations