Firkin

Unit-attached numbers for scientific or engineering calculations.

Many scientists and engineers choose to use Python for their everyday calculations, since it strikes a nice balance between ease of use and versatility. Since Python doesn't natively include unit awareness, libraries such as Unum or Pint are used to make calculations both easier and safer.

Firkin is such a library, and boasts the following features:

• Written in Rust for speed and reliability
• Arbitrary prefix implementation: centimeter, kilogallon, nanoinch of mercury, and exajiffy are all valid Firkin units
• Compatibility for non-absolute temperature scales, so 10 °C accurately maps to 50 °F
• Includes physical constants, so you can easily access the ideal gas constant and avogadro's number
• Broad compatibility with mathematical functions to ensure dimensional consistency
• Flexibility and ease of use

Installation

Firkin can be installed using pip:

pip install firkin-units

Getting started

The library is centered around the Firkin class. Each instance of Firkin contains both a value and a unit. To get a unit in Python, you can either import from firkin.units (contains all non-prefixed units, usually by their full name) or do a text search with the Firkin.unit() method.

>>> from firkin.units import ampere, deg_C, firkin_mass
>>> ampere
1 [A]
>>> from firkin import Firkin
>>> kJ = Firkin.unit("kilojoule")
>>> kJ
1 [kJ]

You can access the constants through firkin.constants or the Firkin.constant() method.

>>> from firkin.constants import faraday_const, electron_charge
>>> faraday_const
96485.33212331001 [C/mol]
>>> Firkin.constant("avogadro")
602214076000000000000000 [mol]

After defining units, you can use them as normal in basic arithmetic.

>>> from firkin.units import meter
>>> length = 3 * meter
>>> width = 5.25 * meter
>>> area = length * width
>>> area
15.75 [m2]
>>> volume = 100 * meter ** 3
>>> volume/area
6.349206349206349 [m]

One of Firkin's biggest strengths is its ability to coerce both numbers and strings into Firkins.

>>> speed = length/"second"
>>> speed
3 [m/s]
>>> longer_length = length + "foot"
>>> longer_length # 3 m + 1 ft
3.3048 [m]
>>> length/width + 2 # plain numbers can only be added to a unitless instance
2.571428571428571 []

The algorithm used to turn strings into Firkins can accept both names and symbols, prefixes or no prefixes, and multiple units at a time.

>>> joule = Firkin.unit("J") 
>>> joule.as_unit("kg.m2/s2") # kilogram meter^2 second^-2
1 [kg.m2/s2]
>>> joule + "kilonewton.meter"
1001 [J]

When unit inconsistencies are found, Firkin will raise an error.

>>> meter ** 2 - meter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File <stdin>, line 1, in <module>
    meter ** 2 - meter
    ~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~
TypeError: [m2] and [m] are not compatible
>>> joule ** meter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File <stdin>, line 1, in <module>
    joule ** meter
    ~~~~~~^^~~~~~~
TypeError: [m2] and [m] are not compatible
>>> some_exponent = "foot" / meter
>>> joule ** some_exponent # allowed, since some_exponent is unitless
1 [J0.3048]

When you need to express a Firkin as a certain unit, use the as_unit or as_number methods.

>>> joule.as_unit("W.hr")
0.0002777777777777778 [W.hr]
>>> tire_pressure = 15 * Firkin.unit("psi")
>>> tire_pressure.as_number("kPa") 
103.39285714285714

Physical constants can be accessed through Firkin.constant as mentioned previously. The speed of light, due to its prevalence as a unit in and of itself in certain fields of physics, is available both as a unit and a constant.

>>> c_unit = Firkin.unit("light speed")
>>> c_unit
1 [c]
>>> c_constant = Firkin.constant("light speed")
>>> c_constant
299792458 [m/s]
>>> c_constant.as_unit(c_unit)
1 [c]
>>> ("keV"/c_unit**2).as_unit("amu") # keV/c2 as atomic mass unit
0.000001073545754277516 [amu]

See the inbuilt documentation for more detailed information.

Real-world example

Say you want to analyze the rate of heat transfer across a single-pane window. You measure the window's area and thickness, which are 4.5 sq ft and 1/4 inch, respectively. Outside it's 100 °F and inside you keep it cool at 70 °F.

from firkin import Firkin
from firkin.units import foot, inch, deg_F, watt

# define window area
window_area = 4.5 * foot ** 2
window_width = 0.25 * inch

# define temperatures
outside_temperature = 100 * deg_F
inside_temperature = 70 * deg_F

You find the thermal conductivity of the glass online. Using your engineering judgment, you assume some convection coefficients.

# define thermal conductivity
glass_thermal_conductivity = 1.05 * watt / "m.K" # 1.05 W/m.K

# assume values for convection coefficients
inside_convection_coefficient = 2 * watt / "m2.K" # 2 W/m2.K
outside_convection_coefficient = 10 * watt / "m2.K" # 10 W/m2.K

All that's left is the final calculation:

# calculate thermal resistances 
inside_resistance = 1/inside_convection_coefficient/window_area
window_resistance = window_width/glass_thermal_conductivity/window_area
outside_resistance = 1/outside_convection_coefficient/window_area

# sum
overall_resistance = inside_resistance + window_resistance + outside_resistance

# calculate heat flow
heat_flow = (outside_temperature - inside_temperature)/overall_resistance

print(heat_flow.as_unit("W"))

# Output: 11.496997564233522 [W]

Seems like it might be time to invest in some better-insulated windows.

Thanks to

Firkin was heavily inspired by both Unum and fend. Some implementation details were taken or adapted from both, so many thanks to the creators and contributors of those projects.

Contributing

Any contributions to Firkin are happily welcomed. Feel free to submit issues or pull requests to:

• Fix bugs
• Improve documentation
• Add features (see below for ideas/my own future plans)

Future plans

• Proper support for logarithmic units
• Auto simplification, especially for units of different prefixes
• Improve case-sensitiveness for queries
• Add LaTeX formatting support
• Add support for arbitrary-precision numbers
• Add support for uncertainty, with basic error propagation