From: Asmus Freytag (asmusf@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Thu Apr 20 2006 - 11:05:23 CST
On 4/20/2006 8:50 AM, Andreas Prilop wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Apr 2006, James Kass wrote:
>
>
>> Did you check the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols range for these?
>>
>
> U+210E is *specifically* Planck's constant, not a *general*
> italic "h".
>
>
>
>
Actually, it is both. You will see that the range of general italic
characters has a hole at 1D454
You guessed it, that's because U+210E was already encoded.
The purpose of all these characters is, as Deborah wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Apr 2006, Deborah Goldsmith wrote:
>
>
>> > To differentiate it for purposes of representing mathematics in plain
>> > text.
>>
>
>
The distinction you make in your answer,
> Planck's constant is physics, not mathematics.
>
>
would surprise many, nay, I say most, physicists, myself included.
When you write physical laws as equations, you are using mathematical
notation,
not something else.
> Do you mean U+210E should be used as a "*general* mathematical
> [or physical] italic small h"?
> Should it be used for, say, height?
> Should it be used for, say, specific enthalpy?
>
The answer is 'yes' to any of these things and more (provided you want a
lower case 'h').
> If so, then U+210E is *not* Planck's constant.
That's a defect on its name, based on the fact that many early character
sets
did not have a complete collection - however, with MathML, you are
definitely
encouraged to use U+210E for any mathematical variable that needs the
lower case 'h', including those used for physics.
A./
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