2.2 Numerical Values

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2.2.1 Constants and Other Stuff

Some basic definitions,

numeric - a literal numerical value

variable - a symbol used to represent a quantity that will change, often represented with a lower case symbol

constant - a value that will not change, often represented with an upper case symbol

subscripts - letters or numbers below a variable to create new (related) variables.

greek letters are often used for variables and constants

The constants listed are some of the main ones, other values can be derived through calculation.

In Scilab

2.2.2 Factorial

A compact representation of a series of increasing multiples.

2.2.3 Significant Figures

Sig figures rules,

- leading zeroes do not count as significant figures.

- trailing zeros will count as significant figures.

- when doing multiplying the results should will (generally) have the same number of significant figures as the least significant number.

- when adding, the least accurate number determines the accuracy of the result.

In computation the standard is to keep all of the digits, but the final answer should be rounded to the correct number of significant figures

Based upon the accuracy of most measuring instruments, and the ability to specify components, most engineering calculations will have 3-6 significant figures. Do not use all of the digits produced by computer/calculator unless all of the digits can be justified.

2.2.4 Scientific and Engineering Notations

In scientific notation one digit is ahead of the decimal, and all other values follow the decimal. The exponent is adjusted accordingly.

Scilab

Engineering notation is similar to scientific notation, but the exponent is always a multiple of 3 so that it corresponds to magnitude multipliers (i.e., micro, milli, kilo, mega).

The current version of Scilab does not seem to support engineering notation.