Defined Units

The units library comes with two sets of units predefined. They are all located in src/units/unit_definitions.hpp. The definitions come in two flavors a precise_unit and a regular unit. All the precise units are defined in the namespace units::precise

All the units are defined as a constexpr values. The choice of which units to define is somewhat arbitrary and guided by the authors experience and the origins of the library in power systems and electrical engineering in the US. Units that the author has actually encountered in work or life are included and in cases where there might be conflicts depending on the location preference was given to the US customary definition, though international systems take priority.

Listing of Units

The most common units are defined in the namespace units::precise and others are defined in subnamespaces.

Base Units

Most base units have two definitions that are equivalent

• meter, m

• kilogram, kg

• second, s

• Ampere, A

• Kelvin, K

• mol

• candela, cd

• currency

• count

• pu

• iflag

• eflag

• radian, rad

Specialized units

Some specialized units are defined for use in conversion applications or for making handling string conversions a little easier

• defunit - special unit that signifies conversion to any other units is possible

• invalid - special unit that conversion has failed

• error - an error unit

Numerical Units

Sometimes it is useful to have pure numerical units, often for multiplication with other units such as hundred*kg or something like that which becomes a single unit with 100 kg.

• one

• ten

• hundred

• percent (0.01)

• infinite

• nan

Also included in this category are SI prefixes deci, centi,milli, micro, nano, pico, femto, atto, zepto, yocto, ronto, quecto, deka, hecto, kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, hecto, zetta, yotta,rotta, quetta.

and SI data prefixes kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi, exbi, zebi, yobi

Derived SI Units

There are many units that used in combination with the SI system that are derived from the base units

• hertz, Hz

• volt, V

• Pa (pascal, on some systems this is defined as something else so the definition(pascal) is skipped)

• newton, N

• joule, J

• watt, W

• coulomb, C

• farad, F

• siemens, S

• weber, Wb

• tesla, T

• henry, H

• lumen, lm

• lux, lx

• becquerel, Bq

• gray, Gy

• sievert, Sv

• katal, kat

• sr

Extra SI related units

A few units that are not officially part of the SI but are accepted for use with the SI system, along with a few other SI units with prefixes that are commonly used.

• mg

• g

• mL

• L

• nm

• mm

• km

• cm

• bar

Centimeter-Gram-Second system

The CGS system is a variant on the metric system. Units from the CGS system are included under the namespace units::precise::cgs.

• eng

• dyn

• barye

• gal

• poise

• stokes

• kayser

• oersted

• gauss

• debye

• maxwell

• biot

• gilbert

• stilb

• lambert

• phot

• curie

• roentgen

• REM

• RAD

• emu

• langley

• unitpole

• statC_charge

• statC_flux

• abOhm

• abFarad

• abHenry

• abVolt

• statV

• statT

• statHenry

• statOhm

• statFarad

Conventional Electrical Units

defined in namespace units::precise::conventional

• volt90

• ampere90

• watt90

• henry90

• coulomb90

• farad90

• ohm90

Meter Gram Force System

defined in namespace units::precise::gm

• pond

• hyl

• at

• poncelet

• PS

Meter Tonne Second system

Defined in namespace units::precise::MTS

• sthene

• pieze

• thermie

Additional Time units

Defined in namespace units::precise::time, units marked with * are also defined in the units::precise.

• min*

• ms*

• ns*

• hr*

• h*

• day*

• week

• yr* (8760 hr)

• fortnight

• sday - sidereal day

• syr - sidereal year

• at - mean tropical year

• aj - mean julian year

• ag - mean gregorian year

• year - aliased to median calendar year (365 days) which is the standard for SI

• mos - synodal (lunar) month

• moj - mean julian month

• mog - mean gregorian month

International customary Units

These are traditional units that have some level of international definition Defined in namespace units::precise::i

• grain

• point

• pica

• inch

• foot

• yard

• mile

• league

• hand

• cord

• board_foot

• mil

• circ_mil

A few units have short symbols defined in unit::precise in, ft, yd, mile. These alias to the international definition.

Avoirdupois units

Avoirdupois units are another common international standard of units for weight and volumes. The units are defined in units::precise::av

• dram

• ounce

• pound

• hundredweight

• longhundredweight

• ton

• longton

• stone

• lbf

• ozf

• slug

• poundal

A few common units have symbols defined in units::precise lb, ton, oz, lbf and these alias to the Avoirdupois equivalent.

Troy Units

Most commonly for precious metals a few units are defined in units::precise::troy, with a basis in the international grain.

• pennyweight

• oz

• pound

United States Customary Units

These are traditional units defined in the United States, for survey or common usage. Defined in unit::precise::us.

• foot

• inch

• mil

• yard

• rod

• chain

• link

• furlong

• mile

• league

• acre*

• homestead

• section

• township

• minim

• dram

• floz

• tbsp

• tsp

• pinch

• dash

• shot

• gill

• cup

• pint

• quart

• gallon

• flbarrel - liquid barrel

• barrel

• hogshead

• cord

• fifth

A few US customary units are defined in specific namespaces to distinguish them from other forms US customary dry measurements are defined in units::precise::us::dry

• pint

• quart

• gallon

• peck

• bushel

• barrel

• sack

• strike

Some grain measures used in markets and commodities are defined in units::precise::us::grain. When commodities are a little more developed this will be defined with appropriate commodity included.

• bushel_corn

• bushel_wheat

• bushel_barley

• bushel_oats

Some survey units are defined in units::precise::us::engineers to distinguish them from others

• chain

• link

The unit gal (gallon) is also defined in units::precise since that is pretty common to use.

FDA and metric measures

The food and drug administration has defined some customary units in metric terms for use in medicine. These are defined in units::precise::metric Also included are some other customary units that have a metric definition.

• tbsp

• tsp

• floz

• cup

• cup_uslegal

• carat

Canadian Units

Some Canadian definitions of customary units defined in units::precise::canada

• tbsp

• tsp

• cup

• cup_trad

• gallon

• grain::bushel_oats

Australia Units

Traditional Australian units defined in units::precise::australia

• tbsp

• tsp

• cup

Imperial or British Units

Traditional british or imperial units, defined in units::precise::imp.

• inch

• foot

• thou

• barleycorn

• rod

• chain

• link

• pace

• yard

• furlong

• league

• mile

• nautical_mile

• knot

• acre

• perch

• rood

• gallon

• quart

• pint

• gill

• cup

• floz

• tbsp

• tsp

• barrel

• peck

• bushel

• dram

• minim

• drachm

• stone

• hundredweight

• ton

• slug

Apothecaries System

Used in pharmaceutical contexts the apothecaries system of units is defined in units::precise::apothecaries.

• floz ( same as imperial version )

• minim

• scruple

• drachm

• ounce

• pound

• pint

• gallon

• metric_ounce

Nautical Units

Some units defined in context of marine travel defined in units::precise::nautical

• fathom

• cable

• mile

• knot

• league

Japanese traditional Units

Some traditional Japanese units are included for historical interest in units::precise::japan

• shaku

• sun

• ken

• tsubo

• sho

• kan

• go

• cup

Chinese Traditional Units

Some traditional Chinese units are included for historical interest in units::precise::chinese

• jin

• liang

• qian

• li

• cun

• chi

• zhang

Typographic units

Units used in typesetting and typography are included in units::precise::typographic Subsets of the units depending on the location are in subnamespaces

units::precise::typographic::american

• line

• point

• pica

• twip

units::precise::typographic::printers

• point

• pica

units::precise::typographic::french

• point

• ligne

• pouce

• didot

• cicero

• pied

• toise

units::precise::typographic::metric

• point

• quart

units::precise::typographic::IN

l’Imprimerie nationale

• point

• pica

units::precise::typographic::tex

• point

• pica

units::precise::typographic::postscript

• point

• pica

units::precise::typographic::dtp

This is the modern standard or as close to such a thing as exists

• point

• pica

• twip

• line

units::precise::typographic

Values taken from dtp namespace

• point

• pica

Distance Units

Some additional distance units are defined in units::precise::distance

• ly

• au

• au_old

• angstrom

• parsec

• smoot

• cubit

• longcubit

• arpent_us

• arpent_fr

• xu

Area Units

Some additional units defining an area units::precise::area

• are

• hectare

• barn

• arpent

Mass Units

Some additional units defining a mass units::precise::mass

• quintal

• ton_assay

• longton_assay

• Da

• u

• tonne

t is included in the units::precise namespace as a metric tonne

Volume Units

Some additional units defining a volume units::precise::volume

• stere

• acre_foot

• drum

Angle Units

A few units defining angles are defined in units::precise::angle.

• deg*

• gon

• grad

• arcmin

• arcsec

• brad - binary radian (1/256 of a circle)

Directional Units

A few cardinal directional units are defined in units::precise::direction, these make use of the i_flag and a numerical value

• east

• north

• south

• west

Temperature Units

A few units related to temperature systems, defined in units::precise::temperature

• celsius, degC*

• fahrenheit, degF*

• rankine, degR

• reaumur

Pressure Units

Some units related to pressure are defined in units::precise::pressure

• psi

• inHg

• mmHg

• torr

• inH2O

• mmH2O

• atm - standard atmosphere

• att - technical atmosphere

Power Units

Some units related to power are defined in units::precise::power

• hpE - electric Horsepower

• hpI - international horsepower

• hpS - steam horesepower

• hpM - mechanical horsepower

the unit hp is aliased in the units::precise namespace to power::hpI

Energy Units

Some units related to energy are defined in units::precise::energy

• kWh

• MWh

• eV

• kcal

• cal_4 - calorie at 4 deg C

• cal_15 - calorie at 15 deg C

• cal_28 - calorie at 28 deg C

• cal_mean - mean calorie

• cal_it - international table calorie

• cal_th - thermochemical calorie

• btu_th - thermochemical BTU

• btu_39 - BTU at 39 deg C

• btu_59 - BTU at 59 deg C

• btu_60 - BTU at 60 deg C

• btu_mean - mean BTU

• btu_it - international table BTU

• btu_iso - rounded btu_it

• quad

• tonc - cooling ton

• therm_us

• therm_br

• therm_ec

• EER - energy efficiency ratio

• SG - specific gravity

• ton_tnt

• boe - barrel of oil equivalent

• foeb

• hartree

• tonhour

• tce - ton of coal equivalent

• lge - liter of gasoline equivalent

in the units::precise namespace

• btu = energy::but_it

• cal = energy::cal_th

• kWh = energy::kWh

• MWh = energy::MWh

Power system Units

Some additional units related to power systems and electrical engineering in units::precise::electrical namespace

• MW

• VAR - W*i_flag

• MVAR

• kW

• kVAR

• mW

• puMW

• puV

• puHz

• MJ

• puOhm

• puA

• kV

• mV

• mA

Equation type Units

Equation units are explained more thoroughly in Equation Units Some of the specific common equation units are defined in the namespace units::precise::log.

• neper

• logE - natural logarithm

• neperA - neper of amplitude unit

• neperP - neper of a power unit

• logbase10

• bel

• belP - bel of a power based unit

• dBP

• belA - bel of an amplitude based unit

• dBA - dB of an amplitude based unit

• logbase2

• dB

• neglog10

• neglog100

• neglog1000

• neglog50000

• B_SPL

• B_V

• B_mV

• B_uV

• B_10nV

• B_W

• B_kW

• dB_SPL

• dB_V

• dB_mV

• dB_uV

• dB_10nV

• dB_W

• dB_kW

• dB_Z - radar reflectivity

• BZ - radar reflectivity

Textile related Units

Units related to the textile industry in namespace units::precise::textile.

• tex

• denier

• span

• finger

• nail

Clinical Units

Units related to clinical medicine in namespace units::precise::clinical.

• pru

• woodu

• diopter

• prism_diopter

• mesh

• charriere

• drop

• met

• hounsfield

Laboratory Units

Units used in laboratory settings in namespace units::precise::laboratory.

• svedberg

• HPF

• LPF

• enzyme_unit

• IU

• arbU - arbitrary unit

• IR - index of reactivity

• Lf - Limit of flocculation

• PFU

• pH

• molarity

• molality

Data Units

Units related to computer data and storage in units::precise::data

• bit*

• nibble

• byte

• kB*

• MB*

• GB*

• kiB

• MiB

• GiB

• bit_s - Shannon bit for information theory

• shannon

• hartley

• ban

• dit

• deciban

• nat

• trit

• digits

B is defined as byte in units::precise

Computation units

Units related to computation units::precise::computation.

• flop

• flops

• mips

Special units

Some special units that were not otherwise characterized in namespace units::precise::special.

• ASD - amplitude spectral density

• moment_magnitude - moment magnitude for earthquake scales (related to richter scale)

• moment_energy

• sshws - saffir simpson hurricane wind scale

• beaufort - Beaufort wind scale

• fujita - Fujita scale for tornados

• mach - mach number(multiplier of the speed of sound)

• rootHertz - square root of Hertz, this is a special handling unit that triggers some specific behavior to handle it.

• rootMeter - square root of meter, this is a special handling unit that triggers some specific behavior to handle it.

• degreeAPI - API scale for measuring liquid density typically petroleum based products

• degreeBaumeLight - scale for measuring liquid density for liquids lighter than water

• debreeBaumeHeavy - scale for measuring liquid density for liquids heavier than water

Other Units

General purpose other units not otherwise categorical in namespace units::precise::other

• ppm - part per million

• ppb - part per billion

• candle

• faraday

• rpm* - revolution per minute

• CFM - cubic feet per minute

• MegaBuck - $1,000,000

• GigaBuck - $1,000,000,000

Climate Units

Units related to climate in namespace units::precise::climate

• gwp - global warming potential

• gtp - global temperature potential

• odp - ozone depletion unit

Speed Units

mph and mps are defined in units::precise since they are pretty common

Units in the units namespace

Regular units are defined in the units namespace. The general rule is that any units with a definition directly in units::precise has an analog nonprecise unit in the units namespace. One addition is that any unit defined in precise::electrical also is defined in units this has to do with the origins of the library in power systems.