Hi List,
I am trying to improve the spacing produced by the \unit command. I have solved
three of my four issues by modifying phys-dim.mkxl, but the fourth issue has me
stumped. Consider this example:
\showmakeup[mathglue] \mathspacingmode=1
\starttext
\startformula
\unit{1.23e5 kg m^2/s^2} + \unit{8.64e5 newton m} = \unit{987,000 joule}
\stopformula
\stoptext
There is no space between the units and the following + or =. The \showmakeup
reveals that this is the space between a “dim” and a “bin” or a “dim” and a
“rel”. I am guessing that “dim” refers to a new “dimension” atom class, and it
appears that the table determining the spacing between atoms does not include
space between this dimension class and the binary or relation classes. I don’t
know that this is the problem, but this is my best guess.
If this is the problem, is there a way I can add this space to the necessary
table? If this is not the problem, I’m open to any other insight or advice.
Thanks,
Gavin
> On Oct 8, 2022, at 11:59 AM, Gavin <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi list,
>
> I made a small example with all of the issues I am trying to fix for the
> \units command. The first formula below uses the \unit command, but produces
> strange spacing. The second formula produces the desired spacing, without
> using the \unit command.
>
> \showmakeup[mathglue] %\mathspacingmode=1
>
> \starttext
> \startformula
> \unit{1.23e5 kg m^2/s^2} + \unit{8.64e5 W s} = \unit{9.87e5 newton m}
> \stopformula
> \startformula
> 1.23\mathord\times10^5\,{\rm kg\mathord\cdot m^2/s^2} +
> 8.64\mathord\times10^5\,{\rm W\mathord{\cdot}s} =
> 9.87\mathord\times10^5\,{\rm N\mathord{\cdot}m}
> \stopformula
> \stoptext
>
> I’m trying to fix four issues:
> - No space between the number and the following units. Should be a thin
> space.
> - No space between the units and the following symbol (+ and = above).
> Should be appropriate “bin" or “rel" space.
> - Too much space around the \cdot in the units. Should be treated like an
> “ord" when used to separate units.
> - Too much space around the \times in the scientific notation. Should be
> treated like an "ord" when used in scientific notation. (I'm not sure there
> is consensus on this.)
>
> Some of these seemed like things I could fix myself, so I dug into
> phys-dim.mkxl to see what I could do. The good news is that I didn’t break
> anything. The bad news is that nothing I did seemed to have any effect –
> including deleting phys-dim.mkxl entirely! I double checked that I was
> working on the same installation used for typesetting. Is the code used for
> \unit now somewhere else?
>
> These issues only occur in math mode, and \unit handles comma separators
> correctly, unlike \digit.
>
> I’d like to get some sort of temporary patch for at least some of these
> issues, even if I need to write it myself. I use \unit everywhere in physics
> problems sets for students and in keys that I share other teachers.
>
> Any guidance is appreciated!
>
> Gavin
>
> P.S. I’m working on a more comprehensive test file, but its not ready yet.
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