Glossary¶
Dimension of a Physical Quantity Type¶
A physical quantity type such as mass, length or area is characterized by its dimension (for example, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_quantity). It is possible to express the dimension of any physical quantity type using the dimensions of some base quantity types. The choice of the base quantity types is arbitrary to a certain extent. The base quantity types that underly the International System of Units are listed below.
Base Quantity Type |
Dimension Symbol |
|---|---|
amount of substance |
N |
electric current |
I |
length |
L |
luminous intensity |
J |
mass |
M |
thermodynamic temperature |
Θ (Greek capital letter Theta) |
time |
T |
Using the symbols given in the table, the dimension of length is L, and the dimension of area is L∙L, or L2.
Unified Modeling Language¶
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose modeling language for the analysis, design, and implementation of software-based systems [UML:1]. Within this specification, we use the notation [UML:x] to refer to section x of OMG® Unified Modeling Language® (OMG UML®), Version 2.5.1 (see https://www.omg.org/spec/UML/2.5.1).