Units#

handcalcs renders whatever values your code produces, so quantities from a units library work like numbers: the substituted step and the result show the value with its unit. forallpeople (designed alongside handcalcs) and pint are both used this way.

forallpeople#

Load an environment with top_level=True so the unit names (m, kN, …) are available directly:

import forallpeople as si
si.environment("structural", top_level=True)

Then, in a separate rendered cell:

%%render
L = 6 * m
w = 5 * kN / m
M = w * L**2 / 8

The result is shown as 22.5 kN·m. forallpeople quantities accept format codes, so # hc: -f works on them.

pint#

import pint
ureg = pint.UnitRegistry()
ureg.formatter.default_format = "~P"   # short, pretty unit symbols

%%render
L = 6 * ureg.m
w = 5 * ureg.kN / ureg.m
M = w * L**2 / 8

Tips#

  • Set up the units in a cell you don’t render, or hide the setup lines with # hc: -i at the end of each line. The setup code is not part of the calculation.

  • Unit-aware values are formatted by the units library. Whether the format code applies depends on the library’s __format__ support.

  • The Excel renderer converts pint and forallpeople quantities into unit columns and SI-scaled formulas.

Next: Gotchas.