dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen) (03/19/90)
I mentioned earlier about a bug/feature of UBASE rounding all unit powers to the nearest integer. It turns out that in the case that I had encountered, I have found an excellent solution to the problem so that this never occurs. BACKGROUND: I am working with various powers of the physical constants h,c,G,e,etc, and combining them to do conversions between different units. (This sort of thing is done in general relativity physics, for example.) I had these constants as variables containing algebraic expressions or just numbers, with their associated HP-48SX unit objects. After combining many of the constants to various powers and taking roots and the like, I would use UBASE to return things to the fundamental SI units, because some of the constants were defined in terms of Joules or Newtons or whatever. SOLUTION: By simply defining these constants in their most basic units (meters, seconds, kilograms) instead of in Joules or Newtons, arithmetic handles fractional exponents without any problem. The solution in this case, therefore, is to simply not need to use UBASE at all by having the calculation automatically proceed in fundamental units. So the integer-only aspect of UBASE turns out to be sidestepped by not requiring the use of UBASE for my rather specialized use of HP-48SX units, which, by the way, are wonderful. I have never been able to play with the physical constants in any other package (including Mathematica and Maple) as easily and nicely as on the HP-48SX. What a wonderful machine... Dan Allen Apple Computer