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The Science of Rounding
By David Evans

Having just read Bill Koenigsberg's article on straps on Ampico B
reservoirs [180516 MMD] reminds me of something we learned at college
about the science of correct rounding.

He mentions that the boards are 5/8" thick, which is fine and we all
know what he means.  He then says that the reservoir is nominally 9.25"
wide.  Again we all know what he means, but in scientific terms this
means that the width is between 9.245" and 9.254", which is probably
not what he means!

I am not getting at Bill -- we all tend to do this -- but we should
remember that the number of figures after the decimal point actually
specifies the accuracy required and the tolerance permitted.

Just being pedantic!

Regards,

David Evans


(Message sent Thu 17 May 2018, 19:57:49 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

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