Setting Numeric_Value for well-known constants

Mark E. Shoulson mark at kli.org
Fri Apr 1 11:50:47 CDT 2022


So I was thinking, we have ℎ U+210E PLANCK CONSTANT, and SI has defined 
an exact value for it (6.62607015⏨-34 J/s (I think ⏨ is very appropriate 
and much cooler than "e" for scientific notation)).  So it has a numeric 
value, and we have a Unicode property especially for that, so it seems 
obvious that we should set the Numeric_Value property of U+210E to 
6.62607015⏨-34.

If we're willing to accept limited decimal precision, we can also set 
the value for ℏ U+210F PLANCK CONSTANT OVER TWO PI.  Which of course 
means we could also do π U+03C0 GREEK SMALL LETTER PI. Actually, setting 
the value of µ U+00B5 MICRO SIGN to 0.000001 is even more obvious, and 
of course is precise.  The Numeric_Value of φ U+03C6 GREEK SMALL LETTER 
PHI could be set exactly, as "(sqrt(5)+1)/2", if we allow the use of 
mathematical expressions in the field—which we clearly do, with 
expressions such a "1/3" in the Numeric_Value field of ⅓ U+2153 VULGAR 
FRACTION ONE THIRD, etc. And of course there's ℇ U+2107 EULER CONSTANT, 
which is also specified as a constant.

So, wouldn't it be a good idea to set Numeric_Value fields for all these 
well-known numbers?

(Answer:  No.  No, it would not be a good idea.  See the date.)

~mark




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