Re: Mathematica 3.0 Palette for Physics SI Fundamental Constants
- To: mathgroup@smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg12380] Re: Mathematica 3.0 Palette for Physics SI Fundamental Constants
- From: dreissNOSPAM@nospam.earthlink.net (David Reiss)
- Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 02:05:02 -0400
- Organization: EarthLink Network, Inc.
- References: <6itgo0$192@smc.vnet.net>
For the values of the fundamental constants see the Particle Data Group at http://pdg.lbl.gov/ When you have finished your work it would be very useful to the global Mathematica community to share you work through MathSource (http://www.mathsource.com). For information on submitting to MathSource see http://www.mathsource.com/submission.html. In article <6itgo0$192@smc.vnet.net>, silver1@inreach.com (Silver Jones) wrote: > I have been constructing a custom palette which has about 100 > fundamental constants for physics. What I thought would be a 2 or 3 > hour task has turned out to be a much larger project. I wanted to set > up the symbols for the constants to be as close to actual > mathematical/physics expression as possible. The purpose of the > palette is to allow you to enter c for instance for the speed of light > with appropriate units. > > example > > c = 2.997925010*10 E8 m/s > > You would enter c from the palette. When the expression was evaluated in > a formula the numerical value would be used with appropriate unit > extensions. The solutions would have numerical output with appropriate > unit extensions. > > I have encountered a the following problems: > > 1. I immediatly ran into the problem of protected symbols. I had to > find symbols which were as close to the correct symbols as possible > instead of the actual symbol which was often protected, or had already > been assigned in my own constants and therefore could not be assigned > again. This prevented pure mathematical representation. > > 2. I created a notebook and assigned all the symbols their numerical > values - example - c = 2.997925010 E8 m/s. > > 3. I then created a palette and placed all the symbols for each > evaluated inputs on the palette. The palette worked perfectly until I > saved it. After saving it, the palette worked to place the symbols in > any new notebook, but no longer kept the assignment values from the > original notebook it had been constructed in. Have I missed some > special way that the palette must be saved? Or was the addition of > palettes in 3.0 never intended for this purpose? I have tried > evaluating the palette after I open it, but this does not provide the > assigned values. If there is no way to save the palette that will also > save the assigned values, I would apprecaite being informed of this. > If there is no option to save it that will work as a stand alone > palette, the only option I can think of is to keep the palette within > the notebook that has the assigned values. Is this the only option > avialable that will work? > > If anyone else has attmepted this and can provide some input, it would > be very appreciated. I debated about trying to get the symbols closer > to actual mathematical/physics representation by unprotecting symbols I > wanted to use, but I considered it a real trade off with regard to the > extra input needed and the possibilities of conflicts with Mathematica > built in protected symbols. If anyone attempted a palette utilizing > unprotected "protected symbols", I would like to know how this worked > out. If one could acheive exact mathematical notation, it would > certainly be and advantage. The representations I have managed to come > up with are close enough so as not to provide confusion, but would not > be close enough for formal publications. As an example I was unable to > use h/e. I had to use h\e because / is protected. > > I anyone knows of a web site that publishes the most current > experimental values for the fundamental constants I would also > appreciate hearing about this. > > Comments can be addressed to the group, or via email. > > email - silver1@inreach.com > > > > Thank you, > > Silver Jones -- David Reiss dreissNOSPAM@nospam.earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~dreiss To send personal email, remove the words "nospam" and "NOSPAM" from the email address