About

DimensionEngine was designed to help people make better use of the computer for dimensional calculations. It seems ironic that at colleges and universities, the people with the most computer access - engineers and scientists - still often do dimensional homework and problems by hand. In fact, many undergraduate homework assignments are designed with the belief that manual units conversion and calculation is an effective learning strategy. Regardless of the pedagogic advantages, no one likes manual, dimensional calculations: they're tedious, error-prone, and shift the focus from the underlying (and interesting!) science and engineering to a mind-numbing chore. All engineers and scientists can add numbers by hand, but no one does -- they all use calculators. All engineers and scientists can convert units by hand, but why should they? Let DimensionEngine do it instead.

What Makes DimensionEngine Different?

There is no shortage of computer tools out there to help convert units and perform dimensional mathematics. There are hundreds of on-line units conversion websites and software packages including spreadsheets (e.g., Excel) and engineering calculation software (e.g., MathCad). However, students rarely use these tools when doing homework. Why? Our guess is that they just aren't quicker or easier than doing it by hand.

Our goal with DimensionEngine was to make it quicker and easier than doing it by hand:

It is free and accessible to anyone with Internet access.
You enter equations and units the same way you would write them or read them in a textbook.
There are no special key strokes or mouse clicks, and as little syntax to learn as possible.
DimensionEngine automatically handles all conversions required. Apart from specifying the dimensions of any input parameters and requesting and special output dimensions to use,
you do not need to worry about dimensions.
Whenever there are mistakes or dimensional inconsistencies, DimensionEngine gives you a clear error message,
so you can quickly go back to the input window, fix the mistake, and calculate the correct answer.
All input and output is text-based, so you can easily cut, paste, and share your work.
The typing required has been minimized as much as possible.

Give DimensionEngine a try! We think you'll agree that it really is better than doing it by hand!

About the Author

Tony Renshaw has an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley. As an engineer, he has worked on Space Station Freedom, designed washing machines and X-ray tubes at General Electric's Corporate Research and Development Center, and taught mechanical engineering as a professor at Columbia University. He holds seven US patents and has over 30 refereed publications. He currently lives in New York City and Hawaii.

Legal

The software described in this document contains valuable trade secrets and proprietary information and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. It may not be copied or distributed in any form or medium, disclosed to third parties, or used in any manner without written prior approval. Unauthorized use of software or its documentation can result in civil damages and criminal prosecution.

DimensionEngine is to be used at the users own risk. We make no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the accuracy of this software. By way of example, but not limitation, we make no representations or warranties of the merchantability or fitness of DimensionEngine for any particular purpose or that the use of this software, components, or documentation will not infringe any patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other rights. Certain features of DimensionEngine are patent pending.