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Cannot use expression with multiple variables

Dario MangoniDario Mangoni Member, Developers Posts: 15 EDU
I have two variables of 'length' type.

If I set a dimension as #woodWidth or #tireDiameter they both work fine,
but as soon as I use

#woodWidth*#tireDiameter

I get the message "Insert a valid expression"

Why is that?
I also tried with #woodWidth*1*#tireDiameter.
I also made sure to have same measurement units.

What's happening?

Comments

  • john_mcclaryjohn_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 3,890 PRO
    edited August 2020
    Values with units suck, I try not to add units until the last step.

    You will need to remove the units of all but 1 variable

    Ex:
    X=12 in
    Y=2 in
    Z=3 in

    A=#x/in * #y/in * #z

    #A=72 in


    Or you can create a new variable as type 'any'
    A=#x*#y*#z

    #A=72 in
  • Dario MangoniDario Mangoni Member, Developers Posts: 15 EDU
    Thanks a lot. Good to know!
  • ilya_baranilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,173
    When you multiply two lengths, you get an area, not a length.  This is to help catch formulas that are wrong because units don't match up, like adding a meter to a kilogram.  See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensional_analysis -- the dimensional homogeneity section.
    Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc
  • mahirmahir Member, Developers Posts: 1,291 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Values with units suck, I try not to add units until the last step.
    Personally, I prefer enforcing units. It's less flexible in some ways, but if done properly it saves a lot of hassle downstream. It just requires a little forethought. Scaling factors should be unitless, but actual dimensions should have real units. This way I don't need to remember whether I used metric or imperial, deg or rad. The unit conversion math happens in the background. And as @ilya_baran mentioned, it prevents you from creating nonsensical formulas with inconsistent units.
  • Dario MangoniDario Mangoni Member, Developers Posts: 15 EDU
    I realized that there was an issue on my equation.
    The example was just a piece of it.

    I agree on the unit enforcement.

    Thanks a lot
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