I am wondering which of the two packages (fancyunits or siunitx) is the best one to use ? is one of them depreciated ? is one if them more complete or easier to use or even more pretty ? which one is the standard among authors of technical or scientific documentation ?
Would it make any sense to use them simultaneously ?
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Fry
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Well, long time ago I was wondering the same thing, but in a more general form, i.e., I was wondering what would be the best way to insert units in LaTeX. Actually there are various packages, more than the two you are asking for.
Back to your question and trying to solve it, I opted for siunitx. But since it is not possible to respond basing on my opinion and these subjectivities, I will try to explain myself better.
About your first question... in fact, the fancyunits package does NOT appear in the CTAN catalogue, but if you search for it in the web you'll find a site with all the necessary for use it. Take a look at the manual, it is from 2007 (6 years old). But I don't know if it's depreciated, you could send an email to the author and ask him.
On the other hand, the package is not only siunitx on CTAN, but its last update is from 28 November (today). So if we talk about topicality, the choice is sinunitx.
Regarding which is the most complete and easy to use, if you check the manuals of both packages (the manual for siunitx before version 2 is almost identical) you will see that the logic is very similar indeed, we can say the same for other related packages in the CTAN. It does not seem easy to each other. What if I believe, and my experience is that siunitx has more development time, thus several improvements.
While no longer accounts with various set of special units, you have the option to define easily you need a management formats, numbers and units quite flexible and complete and option to easily make lists and ranges of both numbers and units. You can also make tables and gets along well with other packages.
I'm not sure there is a standard yet, but I always recommend using siunitx, and when I give courses of LaTeX for engineers and scientists is mandatory package.
My recommendation is to try both and decide with which you feel most comfortable, draw your own conclusions. I hope I was clear.
Aradnix
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siunitxit is actively developed. I believefancyunitsis not really being developed upon anymore, I could be wrong though. – nickpapior Nov 05 '13 at 21:28fancyunitsdoesn't seem to be on CTAN? – cgnieder Nov 05 '13 at 21:31siunitx. It is by far the best package for typesetting physical quantities (and you can create really beautiful tables) that I have seen. – Svend Tveskæg Nov 05 '13 at 21:31fancyunitspackage I've found is essentially a long list of macros for unit names. I wouldn't take it into consideration. – egreg Nov 05 '13 at 23:42