To comment on the following update, log in, then open the issue: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=5930
------- Additional comments from [email protected] Tue Sep 8 22:55:17 +0000 2009 ------- 1. SUMMARY I too would like engineering notation. To answer larsnooden's question below I believe OpenOffice.org QA should conduct an internal reassessment of this issue. To help here I have reviewed the on-line history, summarised the issues, and offered some recommendations for consideration by OpenOffice.org. My structure includes: 1. Summary (this section); 2. Way Ahead, including: A. Separate the Two Issues, B. Reassess Priority of the Two Issues, C. Consider Dependancy of these Two Issues, and D. Review Other Issues in the Database for Dependancy; and 3. Detailed Recommendations. Back in 2004 two separate requirements were blurred together within this issue and I believe that blurring has hindered engineering notation in gaining appropriate implementation priority. The two [blurred] issues are: A. Engineering Notation, and B. SI Prefixes. A. ENGINEERING NOTATION The requirement for engineering notation was well articulated on 17 Jun 02 by the initiating post for this this issue [5930, "Engineering Notation"]. The only thing I would add is "Engineering notation is a version of scientific notation" [Ref: Wikipedia article on Engineering Notation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_notation ] as this may help in the implementation of engineering notation. B. SI PREFIXES On 14 Jan 04 [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] was raised, and 9 hours later it was deemed to be a duplicate of [5930, "Engineering Notation"]. I disagree with this assessment as they are are not the same issue, nor a double of the same issue. [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] does describe a requirement, and that is for SI Prefix, viz, "An SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure" [Ref: Wikipedia article on SI Prefix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_prefix ]. 2. WAY AHEAD A. Separate the Two Issues First of all, the two issues need to be separated so they be considered separately, and I would consider Engineering Notation ahead of SI Prefixes. B. Reassess Priority of the Two Issues The currently assigned priority of P4 for [5930, "Engineering Notation"] is too low. "It is a non-trivial problem which affects a noticeable number of users" [from OpenOffice.org P3 definition at http://www.openoffice.org/issues/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=31957] => the priority for [5930, "Engineering Notation"] should be raised to P3. To substantiate the number of users: see the below posts; Sun 17 May 09 ofirk pointed out that "It will really help lots of people who study engineering and physics" (I totally agree with this comment); and, on 22 Feb 09 k_ivanov pointed out that [5930, "Engineering Notation"] is "one of the most voted issues". Also, all the professional engineers I know use engineering notation when doing their calculations, and only at the end does one consider changing the SI Prefix when presenting the result => greater need (and priority) for engineering notation over SI prefix. C. Consider Dependancy of these Two Issues Once [5930, "Engineering Notation"] has been implemented, then I believe [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] can be implemented => [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] is dependant upon [5930, "Engineering Notation"]. D. Review Other Issues in the Database for Dependancy I reviewed the other issues deemed to be duplicates and I believe: (1) Issue [25974, "engineering number-format"] raised 28 Feb 04 is a mix of both [5930, "Engineering Notation"] and [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] and should remain CLOSED, (2) Issue [32688, "Scientific cell format to snap to common multiples"] raised 6 Aug 04 is a duplicate, but it is a duplicate of Issue [25974, "engineering number-format"], not Issue [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"]. (3) The dependancy tree for Issue [32688, "Scientific cell format to snap to common multiples"] depends upon itself. 3. DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS Recommend that: A. Status of Issue [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] be changed from CLOSED to REOPENED, B. Priority of Issue [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] be assigned P4, C. Issue [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] be made dependant upon Issue [5930, "Engineering Notation"], D. Name of Issue [24373, "Engineering and SI/MKSA notation support for Calc"] be changed to [24373, "SI Prefix"], E. Priority of Issue [5930, "Engineering Notation"] be changed to P3 (at a minimum), and F. Dependancy tree entry for [32688, "Scientific cell format to snap to common multiples"] which currently points to itself be removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not reply to this automatically generated notification from Issue Tracker. Please log onto the website and enter your comments. http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/project_issues.html#notification --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
