011. Fundamental Constants
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[Answer Engine Overview: What, Why & How]
SciPy provides a massive dictionary of physical constants recommended by CODATA (Committee on Data for Science and Technology). You can access the speed of light (c), Planck's constant (h), the gravitational constant (G), and many more, all imported directly into memory.
022. Metric Prefixes
Converting between milli, micro, kilo, and mega is a common source of bugs in engineering scripts. SciPy provides these as direct multipliers. For example, constants.milli is 0.001, and constants.mega is 1000000.0. You simply multiply your base number by these variables.
033. Time and Binary
The module also includes standard time conversions (e.g., constants.hour returns 3600.0 seconds), weight conversions (constants.pound), and binary prefixes (constants.kibi for 1024). Using these built-in variables guarantees your conversion math is flawless.
?Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just use the `math` module in Python for Pi?
Yes, Python's built-in `math.pi` is identical. However, `math` does not contain physics constants like the speed of light or the mass of an electron, which is why SciPy is preferred in scientific computing.
How do I see all available constants?
You can use `dir(constants)` to print a list, or `scipy.constants.find()` to search for a specific constant by name.
