Introduction to EngineeringPaper
Introduction
EngineeringPaper.xyz is a tool that evaluates complex mathematical expressions while keeping track of the units for you. EngineeringPaper also has the capability to solve systems of equations. Once you have your calculation the way you want it, you can easily save or share your sheet with others by creating a shareable link. This sheet introduces you to the basics of using EngineeringPaper. A video tutorial for EngineeringPaper.xyz is available as well. We also have an EngineeringPaper.xyz Reddit community where you can ask questions, share your calculations, and stay up date with the latest EngineeringPaper.xyz developments.
Cell Types
An EngineeringPaper sheet consists of documentation cells and math cells. This cell is a documentation cell and the three cells after this cell are math cells. There are two primary math statement types that appear in math cells, an assignment statement and a query statement. For an assignment statement, a parameter name is provided on the left hand side and an expression is provided on the right hand side. Here are some examples of assignment statements:
Specifying Units
Anytime a numerical values appear in an expression, units may be provided in square brackets immediately after the numerical value. If no units are provided, numerical values are treated as unitless. EngineeringPaper will keep track of the units throughout all of the calculations and will generate an error if units are not consistent.
Querying Results
A query statement is used to obtain the result of a calculation. A query statement consists of a expression on the left hand side and the right hand side is left blank. When a query statement is encountered, EngineeringPaper knows that the results of a calculation are desired and it will automatically fill in the right hand side. Here are some examples of query statements:
30 m^2
4.4704 m^1*sec^-1
=240 (miles)/(day)
90 m^3
Automatic Cell Updates
All edits update the impacted cells immediately. Change the value of h in the above cell to see the volume update as soon as the edit is made.
Saving and Sharing Sheets
If you would like to save a sheet for future use or share a sheet with someone else, use the Get Shareable Link button on the top toolbar to create a shareable link. The link is private unless you choose to share it with someone else. Anytime you would like to save changes to a sheet, it is necessary to generate a new shareable link since sheets are not automatically saved. To start a new sheet, use the New Sheet button on the top toolbar.
Plotting and Function Notation
EngineeringPaper also supports using function notation to evaluate expressions at specific values. For example, the following expression can be defined:
Now, we just need to specify InitialVelocity, theta, and x to evaluate the projectile height at position x. We could set those like we set the gravitational constant, but then the values would be fixed for the entire sheet. To allow us to evaluate y for different sets of input values, we can use the function notation as shown below:
90.826875 m
=297.98843503937 feet
EngineeringPaper.xyz can also be used to solve equations and systems of equations. For more information, see this example sheet.