Types, equations, dimensions and the Pi theorem
Abstract
The languages of mathematical physics and modelling are endowed with a rich ``grammar of dimensions'' that common abstractions of programming languages fail to represent. We propose a dependently typed domain-specific language (embedded in Idris) that captures this grammar. We apply it to formalize basic notions of dimensional analysis: those of dimension function, physical quantity, homomorphic measurement, the covariance principle and Buckingham's Pi theorem. We hope that the language makes mathematical physics more accessible to computer scientists and functional programming more palatable to modellers and physicists.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Distributed and Parallel Computing Systems
Model-Driven Software Engineering Techniques
Scientific Computing and Data Management
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Functional Programming
- Volume
- Volume 36
- Publication date
- 28 June 2026
- Language
- EN