[R-pkg-devel] r-quantities seeking feedback

[Iñaki Úcar]

2017-10-06 22:28 GMT+02:00 David Hugh-Jones <davidhughjones at gmail.com>:
> Many measurements have no unit, but some uncertainty - e.g. the b and se
> from an arbitrary regression. Can you give specific examples of the
> advantages from binding these packages tightly together?

As Duncan already pointed out, the units of b and se from an arbitrary
regression depend on the units of your variables. The advantages from
integrating both packages are the combination of advantages from each
one with the same workflow as if you were working with bare numbers.

It seems that you are already aware of the advantages of automatic
error propagation. Regarding the units package, it is very useful for
painless conversion of units. A conversion from kg to g is elementary,
but some others require more care, for example J to eV, or N.m-1 to
dyn.cm-1. In electromagnetism, it is very common to work with the CGS
units system, and an automatic conversion from/to the SI comes in
handy.

If you are not persuaded already, we can also talk about the Mars
Climate Orbiter, a robotic space probe launched by NASA on 1998 which
disintegrated in Mars' upper atmosphere due to a computation with
wrong units.

Iñaki