Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to units, measurements and uncertainties, with an integrated approach to how we represent numbers on computers in physics. The standardized (SI) units are introduced. Scientific representation and the significant digits are introduced. Transformation between various units, such as between hours and seconds or meters and feet are discussed with examples. Numerical representation of numbers on a computer, including integers and float-point numbers, and an introduction to numerical errors.
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In other programming languages, type switching is not standard, and you may “run out of integers” with surprising results.
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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Malthe-Sørenssen, A. (2015). Units and Measurement. In: Elementary Mechanics Using Python. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19596-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19596-4_3
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19595-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19596-4
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