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Hidden radian units

23 bytes added, 16:41, 24 July 2013
→‎IUPAC report: Quote improvements.
=== IUPAC report ===
This reference explains a bit more clearly why the radian unit isinvisible in most situations.
Title: Quantities, units, and symbols in physical chemistry (second edition).
Quote from page 11:
"The units radian (rad) and steradian (sr), for plane angle and solid
angle respectively, are described as 'SI supplementary units' [3].
Since they are of dimension 1 (i.e. dimensionless), they may be
included if appropriate, or they may be omitted if clarity is not lost
thereby, in expressions for derived SI units."
 
This is the part meaning that radians are implied if you are doing
anything angular. I don't know what they mean by clarity because by
omitting them it complicates things. Maybe you have to be a physicist
before you can see this clarity.
<blockquote>The units radian (rad) and steradian (sr), for plane angle and solid angle respectively, are described as 'SI supplementary units' [3]. Since they are of dimension 1 (i.e. dimensionless), they may be included if appropriate, or they may be omitted if clarity is not lost thereby, in expressions for derived SI units.</blockquote>
This is the part meaning that radians are implied if you are doing anything angular. I don't know what they mean by clarity because by omitting them it complicates things. Maybe you have to be a physicist before you can see this clarity.
== Spherical harmonics ==
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