on 2002-10-26 18.35, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 2002-10-26 > >> From the BBC article: > > Earlier, FBI agents conducted a major search at a house in Tacoma, > Washington state, 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) from the capital. > > The distance from Washington DC to Tacoma is not exactly 2000 miles. That > is just a rounded number to make it easier to say and remember. The > conversion to SI could just as well been 3000 km, and no loss of real > accuracy would have result.
Dear John, What you say about accuracy is true is true, but the writer (and the editors) are showing some hidden characteristics. 1 They are beginning all their calculations from an ifp source. 2 They are essentially innumerate in that they don't recognise the fact that if the original number is rounded to a single significant figure then (in the absence of other information about precision) it is reasonable to round the conversion to one significant figure. 3 They are using the old (but unstated) argument that ifp is right, proper, and moral while metric is new and untried; and if we ignore it and ridicule it with false precision, it will go away. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia
