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PrimeUnitsWhen4-Participant
4-Participant
May 26, 2021
Question

Mathcad Prime 7 - are we STILL unable to set custom default units?

  • May 26, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 7679 views

People have been asking for this since at least 2013. Case in point: https://community.ptc.com/t5/PTC-Mathcad/Setting-default-units-in-Mathcad-Prime-3-0/m-p/59447#M23559

 

This seems like a pretty trivial thing, so it kinda just blows my mind that eight years later we STILL cannot modify the default units for results in Mathcad Prime, like we were able to in Mathcad 15.

 

To make it clear what I'm talking about:
I understand that I can set the default unit SYSTEM, (to SI, USCS, or CGS) which is great and all.
However, let's say for example I'd like for all pressure calculation results to have units of KSI by default. In Mathcad Prime, this very simple feature is not included. The program displays all USCS pressure calculation results in PSI. I can then manually change the units of the result to be whatever I'd like, of course. But imagine doing this over and over again while doing a series of lengthy calculations. This wasted time adds up, my workflow is impacted, and the result is that overall, Mathcad Prime is still less efficient for our purposes than Mathcad 15 is.

 

I weep for the poor souls who are having to use Prime for work on (for example) the micrometer scale. For them, "12µm + 10µm = (2.2*10^-5) m" can you imagine how irritating that is? In Mathcad 15, those folks could have simply set "µm" as their preferred Length unit, and all length results would be displayed in µm. So easy. But here in the future--the year 2021--the supposedly "superior" version of Mathcad is forcing these people to actually go through the motions of clicking on the result unit, and typing "alt+230+m", for every single result individually.

 

I really want to love Mathcad Prime but come on guys, why do we still not have this painfully simple thing?

 

I am begging you. All of the engineers at my company are begging you.

 

It would give us so much solace to hear from PTC that the feature is at least planned to be included in a future release. 

 

P.S. I've attached an image showing the particular settings menu that we are begging you for. Just so we're crystal clear. (this image is actually from that 2013 post I linked above--our yearning is the same as theirs)

    5 replies

    W
    Werner_E25-Diamond I
    25-Diamond I
    May 26, 2021
    But here in the future--the year 2021--the supposedly "superior" version of Mathcad is forcing these people to ...

    I guess even PTC would not dare to call Prime being "superior", but beginning with January 2022 it will be the best Mathcad version available because it will be the only one you can buy - or better: subscribe to.

     

    I am begging you. All of the engineers at my company are begging you.

    Its nice to see that there still are people around who believe that PTC would listen to their customers and act accordingly. Most of us already have given up any hope.

     

    It would give us so much solace to hear from PTC that the feature is at least planned to be included in a future release.

    I am not aware of any current roadmap concerning the features of upcoming versions. This is a pic which Vladimir had posted a while a go. Looks like enhancing unit handling is not on their agenda. (I guess the "And more..." addresses "10.0...", not necessarily 8.0)

    But hey, maybe we get advanced features like super- and subscripts in texts

    Werner_E_0-1622068881131.png

     

      T
      21-Topaz I
      ttokoro21-Topaz I
      21-Topaz I
      May 27, 2021

      Symbolic result can show it. 

      image.pngimage.pngimage.png

      W
      Werner_E25-Diamond I
      25-Diamond I
      May 27, 2021
      @ttokoro wrote:

      Symbolic result can show it. 

       

      Really? How about 5 µm + 200 nm ? 🙂

      Unfortunately symbolic evaluation sure is not a suitable workaround for the missing customizable unit system.
      Quite apart from the fact that, unlike in real Mathcad, we cannot display the symbolic arrow as an equal sign in Prime, as would be necessary for a decent report.

        A
        AndrewReid4-Participant
        4-Participant
        September 20, 2021

        Define the units as user defined units.  

        AndrewReid_0-1632123421416.png

         

        C
        CA_104896921-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        February 1, 2023

        Yes please include this functionality, or tell us why you seem unable to change.  Did someone patent the crazy out of the MathCAD 15 features and then hold you hostage?

        W
        Werner_E25-Diamond I
        25-Diamond I
        February 3, 2023
        @CA_10489692 wrote:

        Yes please include this functionality, or tell us why you seem unable to change.  Did someone patent the crazy out of the MathCAD 15 features and then hold you hostage?

        No, I don't think that thats the case but rather it seems to be much simpler - it just seems that Prime "development" is not given the resources it would take to bring Prime up to par with the 10-15 year old previous version (real Mathcad), let alone surpass it.
        Maybe you may also call it a bad combination of ignorance, incompetence and unwillingness.

        C
        CA_104896921-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        February 9, 2023

        I was hoping to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’ve found the support website and email wise lacking…MathCAD Prime seems like “low priority” software for sure.

        J
        JKT13-Aquamarine
        13-Aquamarine
        February 2, 2023
        @PrimeUnitsWhen wrote:

         "alt+230+m", for every single result individually.

        Doesn't "m + Ctrl+g + m" work for you?

        As a side note: I didn't know it could be done in classic Mathcad. MPa instead of Pa would have been SO nice. 🙂

        S
        SPaulis14-Alexandrite
        14-Alexandrite
        May 1, 2025

        So Prime 11.0.0.0.0.0.0 is now out... and it has customizable unit system!!!   Great!!!  ...but not so great.

         

        The custom unit system only allows you modify 'named' dimensions and can only customize them to common 'named' units.

         

        So for an example, a default unit for "Area" could be "Barn".....?

        SPaulis_0-1746131119470.png

         

        So, this totally ignores like 80–90% of engineering professions.  As a structural engineer, I will almost never use Acre, Barn(?) or Hectare.  I need in^2!!!!

        And a common unit I use are in^4 and in^6 for section properties of structural elements.  Not the default ft^4 and ft^6, and there is nothing in the "named" lists for these!  It's not like Mathcad can't handle any combination of units you can throw at it.  And don't get me started on volumes!!! (gallons? really???)

         

        As an example, here is a data table that I read in from Excel when I need.  I do have a fancy program that will append the units for me.  "plf" for column 4 is not a problem, but I want all the rest to default to "in^#".  This is the same idea when I want to output any matrix with mixed units. 

        SPaulis_5-1746133404098.png



        This is what Mathcad "should" do:

         

        Just have a default list of "Unit Name" and "Preferred Unit" that the user can add to, or modify.  The "Preferred Unit" can be a simple built in unit or a construct of units.  For example (I made this in a matrix):

        SPaulis_3-1746132297135.png

         

        As you can see, the names are completely arbitrary and makes sense for the work I am doing.  Astute readers will see that I even duplicated some dimensions but at different scales,  That way Mathcad can choose between the units that fit the numbers better.   Obviously, if I use large areas, I am talking about floor spaces (m^2) and not cross sectional area of members (mm^2).  It doesn't work for everyone's case but quite often in our work we have different magnitudes of vales for different themes of calculations.  

        So with a list like this, when Mathcad solves for a value that is [force]/[length], it will just go down the list and find kgf/m and use that as the default unit.   SO EASY!!!!  If not in the list, Mathcad can default to units like "Barn" if it likes and we can add an additional custom unit to the list (for those that do not like Barns;)   

         

        This should be by assigning the units, as a matrix, at any point in the document so that you can change your preferred units on the fly!!!.  Even as global assignments, so you can put the boring work at the end of your document.  You only need to add/modify the units you want so you only need to enter [ "lengths"  m ] if you only wanted to change lengths on the fly.

         

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