How results are shown

Showing a result never changes it: what is carried into the statements below is the full value, about 15 significant figures. To change how results look, see Format results; the settings are in Worksheet settings.

The unit

1. The unit you typed in the result’s placeholder, if any. It must be of the right kind, or the result is an error.

2. Otherwise an SI unit, chosen in this order:

   • a named unit of exactly that kind: N, Pa, W, J, C, V, Ω, F, H, T, Wb, S. A moment, force times length, is shown as N*m, never as J;
   • a named unit with m or s: N/m, N*m^2, Pa*s, W/m^2;
   • a named unit squared or cubed, or one over a named unit: N^2, 1/N, m/N;
   • base units: m/s^2, kg/m^3.

   Hz, Bq, Gy and Sv are never chosen on their own, since other things share their units.

3. Then an engineering prefix, so the number is between 1 and 1000: 54 kN*m, 210 GPa, 12 mm, 7.85 t/m^3, 250 \rm g.

   • Only steps of a thousand (no cm), only prefixed units Beermat knows, and only on the first unit (kN/m, not N/mm).
   • Never on time, temperature, angles, US units, or plain numbers. Zero keeps the plain unit.
   • The prefix of an array is chosen for the whole array, from its largest element.
   • Turned off by result: {prefixes: false}.

4. A result without units shows none.

The number

Setting	Default	Example
Decimal places (decimals)	3	1234.567, 2.5, 0.333
Trailing zeros (trailing_zeros)	off	with it, 2.500
Significant figures (significant)	off	to 3: 2.50, 0.0123, 1235
Strict (strict), with significant figures	off	to 3: 1230
Exponent from 10^n (exponential_threshold)	6	1.23 × 10⁶

• Rounding is half away from zero, on the number as written in decimal: 2.675 to two places is 2.68.
• With significant figures, digits left of the decimal point stay unless strict is on.
• A number of 10^n or more, or below 10^−n, is shown with an exponent, and so is a small number that would otherwise round to 0.
• A value smaller than 10⁻¹⁵ is shown as 0; in a complex number, a part smaller than 10⁻¹⁰ of the other is hidden.

Arrays and text

An array whose elements share a unit shows it once, after it: [0; 40.5; 54]*kN*m. Elements with units of their own each show theirs: [10 kN; 2 kN*m]. An array of more than 20 rows or columns is shown 20 at a time, and scrolls.

In a file and on the command line, a result is written in the linear syntax, so it can be read back: 54 kN*m, 9.807 m/s^2, 5/s, (3 + 4i)*m.