diff --git a/app/controllers/quantities_controller.rb b/app/controllers/quantities_controller.rb
index 1f1e64a..cb662be 100644
--- a/app/controllers/quantities_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/quantities_controller.rb
@@ -60,10 +60,11 @@ class QuantitiesController < ApplicationController
 
   def quantity_params
     params.require(:quantity).permit(
-      :name,
-      :description,
       :domain,
       :parent_id,
+      :name,
+      :description,
+      :formula,
       :primary
     )
   end
diff --git a/app/models/quantity.rb b/app/models/quantity.rb
index cc610f0..ff43dcf 100644
--- a/app/models/quantity.rb
+++ b/app/models/quantity.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 class Quantity < ActiveRecord::Base
+  require 'ripper'
+
   enum domain: {
     diet: 0,
     measurement: 1,
@@ -13,6 +15,41 @@ class Quantity < ActiveRecord::Base
   validate if: -> { parent.present? } do
     errors.add(:parent, :parent_domain_mismatch) unless domain == parent.domain
   end
+  validate if: -> { formula.present? } do
+    # 1st: check if formula is valid Ruby code
+    tokenized_length = Ripper.tokenize(formula).join.length
+    unless tokenized_length == formula.length
+      errors.add(:formula, :invalid_formula, {part: formula[0...tokenized_length]})
+    end
+
+    # 2nd: check if formula contains only allowed token types
+    identifiers = []
+    Ripper.lex(formula).each do |location, ttype, token|
+      case
+      when [:on_ident, :on_tstring_content, :on_const].include?(ttype)
+        identifiers << token
+      when [:on_sp, :on_int, :on_rational, :on_float, :on_tstring_beg, :on_tstring_end,
+        :on_lparen, :on_rparen].include?(ttype)
+      when :on_op == ttype && '+-*/'.include?(token)
+      else
+        errors.add(:formula, :disallowed_token,
+                   {token: token, ttype: ttype, location: location})
+      end
+    end
+
+    # 3rd: check for disallowed function calls (they are not detected by Ripper.lex)
+    # FIXME: this is unreliable (?) detection of function calls, should be replaced
+    # with parsing Ripper.sexp if necessary
+    function = Ripper.slice(formula, 'ident [sp]* lparen')
+    errors.add(:formula, :disallowed_function_call, {function: function}) if function
+
+    # 4th: check if identifiers used in formula correspond to existing quantities
+    identifiers.uniq!
+    quantities = self.project.quantities.where(name: identifiers).pluck(:name)
+    if quantities.length != identifiers.length
+      errors.add(:formula, :unknown_quantity, {quantities: identifiers - quantities})
+    end
+  end
 
   after_initialize do
     if new_record?
diff --git a/app/views/quantities/_form.html.erb b/app/views/quantities/_form.html.erb
index 1dad598..07d2c9e 100644
--- a/app/views/quantities/_form.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/quantities/_form.html.erb
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
   <% end %>
   <p><%= f.text_field :name, size: 25, required: true %></p>
   <p><%= f.text_field :description, size: 200 %></p>
+  <p><%= f.text_field :formula, size: 200, placeholder: t('.formula_placeholder') %></p>
   <p><%= f.check_box :primary %></p>
 </div>
 
diff --git a/config/locales/en.yml b/config/locales/en.yml
index 6dda2c5..fabac86 100644
--- a/config/locales/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/en.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ en:
   field_nutrients: 'Nutrients:'
   field_domain: 'Domain'
   field_parent_quantity: 'Parent'
+  field_formula: 'Formula'
   field_primary: 'Primary'
   field_shortname: 'Short name'
   button_primary: 'Primary'
@@ -24,6 +25,12 @@ en:
           attributes:
             parent:
               parent_domain_mismatch: 'parent quantity has to be in the same domain'
+            formula:
+              invalid_formula: 'interpretation failed after: %{part}'
+              disallowed_token: 'includes disallowed token "%{token}"
+                (of type %{ttype}) at %{location}'
+              disallowed_function_call: 'includes disallowed function call %{function}'
+              unknown_quantity: 'contains undefined quantities: %{quantities}'
   body_trackers:
     index:
       heading: 'Summary'
@@ -82,6 +89,8 @@ en:
         measurement: 'measurement'
         exercise: 'exercise'
       null_parent: '- none -'
+      formula_placeholder: 'provide if value of quantity has to be computed in terms of
+        other quantities'
   units:
     index:
       heading: 'Units'