Subject: Re: bug#44799: 28.0.50; Calc: Meter not printed as \text in latex output

From: Michael Heerdegen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2020 15:20:31 +0100

Mattias Engdegård <[email-masked]> writes:

> > Would it be possible to make output syntax depend on how the symbol is
> > actually interpreted by Calc in the given context?
>
> Not sure if that is even possible. For example, adding 2 m and 3 m
> gives 5 m, and Calc doesn't care whether m is a variable or unit here.

You are probably right.  Why don't we then just print all symbol names
as we do for units now?  In mathematical contexts variables like in $v$
are printed as Calc currently prints units.

> Latin and Greek letters suffice for the vast majority of units; the
> only major exceptions I can think of are Å and ° (for the angle and
> °C). Same goes for variables, although diacritics could be
> useful. Then there are currencies, but as mentioned, $ has special
> meaning and cannot be used.

There are variants of the latin alphabet including the same letters
looking a bit different.  People may also want to use these.  I don't
see a reason to exclude anything...oh wait, ok, the characters must be
compatible with all supported language modes, that may be the reason for
the restrictions.

Michael.