# Typesetting SI Units

Most people would already have heard of the siunitx package, but in case you haven’t, here’s a small, humble request:

Please use the siunitx package more to typeset your measurements. Please. I beg you. It’s so much easier and makes things look so much more professional.

(Yes, this is going to be a rather ranty post, but don’t worry, I’ll keep it short.)

I mean, just compare the output when using siunitx:

\usepackage{siunitx}

And doing it manually:

$3.563 \times 10^4$ V$^2$ lm$^3$ F$^{-1}$

I rest my case. And if you’re not convinced yet, you can also do lists and ranges of values like this:

\SIlist[per-mode=symbol]{40;85;103}{\kilo\metre\per\hour}
\SIrange{75}{110}{\kilo\pascal}

So please. Start using siunitx.

## 4 thoughts on “Typesetting SI Units”

1. Actually it's not a right way to do it manually, when i write something like
$3.563 times 10^4 , text{V}^2;text{lm}^3;text{F}^{-1}$
it's looks nice.

So, using siunitx or siunits ir much easier but not necesarry.

2. @krāsulauva Thanks for your comment. I was too lazy to figure out the right spacing — bad of me.

3. Anonymous says:

is posible to change the language? In your example is 75KPa to 110 kPa, wich is wright in english but in spanish it should be 75kPa a 110kPa (the change of to –> a)
Thanks Jorge

4. Apparently Spanish is still not supported! It's possible to localise the phrases for German and French, like this:

documentclass[ngerman]{article}
usepackage{babel}
usepackage{siunitx}

SIrange{75}{110}{kilopascal}

But not yet for Spanish. You'll have to create a dictionary for the translator package; see the section about Localisation in the siunitx manual, and the “translator” package documentation.