The size of oil reserves changes as new methods of recovery are developed. At the moment I think that the amount of recoverable oil reserves is less than half of the oil that is there. New methods keep changing what is recoverable. Along with that squabbles over environmental issues.
But there is a joke in oil exploration: You ask a mathematician, "What's two plus two?" And he answers, "Four". You ask an engineer, "What's two plus two?" And he answers, "Three point nine, nine, (with hesitation), nine." You ask a geologist, "What's two plus two?" He answers, "Somewhere between three and five." You ask a geophysicist, "What's two plus two?" He leans over to your ear and quietly asks, "What would you like it to be?" On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Murray Eisenberg <[email protected]>wrote: > Glad to know that astronomy is not the only area where one is happy to > have one significant digit! > > On 27 May 2013 12:11:45 -0600, Don Guinn <[email protected]> wrote: > > > One needs to know something about the problem to know if such small > amounts > > are significant. Like a small number in acceleration makes a big > difference > > in calculating the path for a rocket to Mars or farther. But for > something > > like oil reserves in the ground we are lucky if even the first > significant > > digit is correct. > > --- > Murray Eisenberg [email protected] > Mathematics & Statistics Dept. > Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) > University of Massachusetts 413 545-2838 (W) > 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 > Amherst, MA 01003-9305 > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
