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Bug introduced in version 10.3 or earlier and fixed in 11.1.

I was pleasantly surprised that Mathematica (10.3, 10.4, 10.4.1, 11.0 and 11.0.1) had the unit $\text{flick}$ until I spent several hours trying to figure out why all my calculations were million times off! I think this is a very simple bug. That unless you are dealing with odd spectral radiance units you would never see it.

Mathematica's internal definition for a $\text{flick}$ is wrong.

A $\text{flick}$ is:
$1 \text{flick} = 1\; \frac{\text{W}}{\text{cm}^2\; \text{sr}\; \mu \text{m}}$
Here are some external links for the definition of a $\text{flick}$
Wikipedia (Flick)
A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
Physics Wiki

Set L to be one $\text{flick}$

 L = Quantity[1, "Flicks"]

 (*
   1flicks 
 *)

Lets convert one $\text{flick}$ to one $\frac{\text{W}}{\text{cm}^2\; \text{sr}\; \mu \text{m}}$

  UnitConvert[L, "Watts"/(("Centimeters")^2 "Steradians"  "Micrometers")]
 (*
 1 000 000 W/(cm^2 \[Micro]m sr)
 *)

Have I missed something simple in how I'm doing the conversion? I'm going to guess that because the $\mu\text{flick}$ is the most common unit of $\text{flick}$ that a $\mu\text{flick}$ accidentally got defined as a $\text{flick}$.

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  • $\begingroup$ As a matter of policy, we traditionally do not add the bugs tag until your observations have been verified by others. Nevertheless, running UnitConvert[Quantity[1, "Flicks"]] // N does show that something's off, so this is certainly a bug, and I'll let you off this time. $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Apr 3, 2016 at 22:57
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry I did quick look over the Mathematica meta but must have missed that. $\endgroup$
    – c186282
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 0:00
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    $\begingroup$ It's in meta (there are also a number of related questions), and it is also in the tag wiki $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 0:03
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    $\begingroup$ @c186282 You should report this to Wolfram Support, if you haven't yet! As you probably know, this forum is not associated with Wolfram, so reporting bugs here does not notify Wolfram. $\endgroup$
    – MarcoB
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 20:21
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    $\begingroup$ As I said "Yes I have sent a link to this post to my Wolfram contact." well Flicks are still wrong in 11.0 $\endgroup$
    – c186282
    Commented Aug 13, 2016 at 0:43

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