Re: [Phys-L] dimensional analysis

[Jeff Bigler <jcb@mit.edu>]

On 7/25/2012 6:37 PM, Larry Smith wrote:
> Seems to me that the term "dimensional analysis" is used in two different ways.  Some sources use it to mean simply converting from one kind of units to another (how many square centimeters are there in an acre?); this usage of the term is also called the factor label method.  Others use it to mean comparing the dimensions of the physical quantities to find relationships between the quantities.
>
> Do the two uses fall along disciplinary lines (chemistry vs. physics)?  Looking at many hits from a web search led me to that tentative conclusion.
>
> What do you mean when you say "dimensional analysis"?  
>
> Thanks,
> Larry

In the college chemical engineering courses I took, "dimensional
analysis" always meant the latter.  This came up quite a bit in fluid
mechanics and heat & mass transfer, both of which used dimensional
analysis as a way to derive dimensionless quantities that described
certain aspects of the system under consideration.

-- 
Jeff Bigler
Lynn English HS; Lynn, MA, USA
"Magic" is what we call Science before we understand it.