josdejong/mathjs

[Document the] secant function messing up sec unit

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#2,095 opened on Jan 28, 2021

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Description

I believe "sec" is a built-in alias for the time unit seconds. However, if I type "5 sec" into the https://mathnotepad.com (or the evaluate input on https://mathjs.org) the function sec seems to take precedence and throw a TypeError even though it is expecting a unit:

TypeError: Unexpected type of argument in function multiplyScalar (expected: number or Unit or string or boolean or BigNumber or Complex or Fraction, actual: function, index: 1)

Can we improve the parser to avoid this confusion? It seems the unit "sec" is currently unavailable.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
apideveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
JavaScriptmathjs library basics
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40
Research direction
Investigate the parser in src/parse.js to understand how function names and unit aliases are resolved. Look for precedence rules that cause the secant function to override the unit 'sec'. Consider adding a disambiguation mechanism, such as requiring parentheses for functions or checking context, and update unit definitions accordingly.
[Document the] secant function messing up sec unit · josdejong/mathjs#2095 | Good First Issue