# Unexpected precision **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720 "2021-03-11T17:07:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/61 "2021-03-13T18:15:32Z")
Noble of you, but who do you think they’ll be lining up to slap ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/62 "2021-03-13T18:37:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’ll be next in line. It took me a second but it was worth it! Took me minutes, but than I have an excuse (several severe traumatic brain injuries. My brain can get to the same eventual destination, but it takes longer) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/63 "2021-03-13T19:34:42Z")
One I run across frequently is on TV shows like _How It’s Made_ where they convert from metric to imperial with no regard to human scale precision, leading to stuff like cookies being baked at 421 degrees, or wire being cut to a length of 73 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/64 "2021-03-13T20:48:16Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > A report of an explosion said that police estimated that they had used 2200 lbs of explosive. They probably meant a megagram. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/65 "2021-03-14T01:44:26Z")
When Mr. Burns wanted to get Homer out of his office, he pushed a button which dropped a “1000-gram” weight on Homer’s head, muttering that he thought it would it would be bigger. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/66 "2021-03-14T01:48:24Z")
Even if it’s only 1.524 meters, I wouldn’t want 2.205 lbs falling on my head. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/67 "2021-03-14T01:51:04Z")
Yes, it only worked because it was Homer. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/68 "2021-03-14T04:59:01Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I had to argue with the marketing department of my former company because the specs we’re getting converted into this kind of false precision. The engineers would say that something would work for 1000 yards so they would claim 914.4 m. I’d complain and they cut off the .4 part. I had a similar experience with a supervisor, regarding performance evaluations. He had made a 10-question questionnaire, with each questions to be answered on a scale of (1 to 5 IIRC), with questions relating to employee’s work habits, competency, and stuff like that. He had all the shift supervisors fill these out for all their employees. Then he computed employees’ average scores from these results, to something like 4 decimal places, and used those numbers to rank the employees. He had no clue that you can’t get 4-place significance from input data that consisted of whole numbers from 1 to 5. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/69 "2021-03-14T05:01:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And that standard, oft used American measurement of length, the football field. In America, we also have a fairly modern unit of measure for lengths of time, the Scaramucci. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > 2.0299999999999994 pounds equals 920.7925110999997 grams, so this is precise to 10 to the minus 13 grams. Meat is composed of various elements, but pretend it’s composed simply of carbon. These kinds of measures also are based on the assumption that the meat comes from spherical cows. My doctor suggested I could take 1000 mg of acetaminophen, which he helpfully remarked was equal to 1 gram. I helpfully pointed out to him that this is one kilomilligram. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/70 "2021-03-14T05:06:20Z")
And then there is always the ‘smoot’ unit of length. Boston always knows best. ## Description The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, a fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, who in October 1958 lay down … [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/71 "2021-03-14T06:11:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > In America, we also have a fairly modern unit of measure for lengths of time, the Scaramucci. In the spirit of unexpected precision, the Scaramucci (also known as the “mooch”) is equal to 9.504 x 108 milliseconds. Thus, for example, it currently takes radio signals about 7.176 x 10–4 Scaramuccis to travel between Earth and the Perseverance rover on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/72 "2021-03-14T16:06:14Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > He had no clue that you can’t get 4-place significance from input data that consisted of whole numbers from 1 to 5. 1 is significant, 2 is significant, 3 is significant, … ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/73 "2021-03-14T17:06:16Z")
You can tell the difference between an electrician and an electronics tech. To the electrician a battery is 1 and a half volts. To an electronics tech it’s 1500 millivolts. I used to tease tell them they should stop at 1000 whatever and convert, but noooo. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/74 "2021-03-14T21:02:33Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > And then there is always the ‘smoot’ unit of length. Boston always knows best. In way the most amusing part of the story is that Mr. Smoot spent his career working at the National Bureau of Standards. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/75 "2021-03-14T21:17:38Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > You can tell the difference between an electrician and an electronics tech. To the electrician a battery is 1 and a half volts. To an electronics tech it’s 1500 millivolts. I used to tease tell them they should stop at 1000 whatever and convert, but noooo. It is a clear difference in implied precision. They could convert 1500 millivolts to 1.500 volts, but not to 1 volt and a half. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/76 "2021-03-14T21:37:09Z")
The number of significant figures in 1500 millivolts is ambiguous. It could mean 1.500 x 103 (4 significant figures), or 1.50 x 103 (3 significant figures), or 1.5 x 103 (2 significant figures). In the last case it would be appropriate to convert it to 1.5 volts. The overbar notation can be used to distinguish the cases, but I think this is rarely used outside of scientific publications, and even there scientific notation is often used instead. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/77 "2021-03-14T21:45:28Z")
He was Chair of ANSI and President of ISO, but I’m not aware he ever worked at NBS/NIST ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/78 "2021-03-15T13:16:14Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I always get a kick out of news stories that convert from metric for the benefit of USians. Like “the explosion hurled debris up to 20 meters away (65.6168 feet)”. It’s even weirder when it is wrong. About 15 years ago, I ran the NYC marathon, and they had the marathon distance in both miles and kilometers on all signage, posters, shirts, etc. Except that they did the conversion incorrectly. They had it as: 26.2 miles / 42.16 kms They obviously just converted 26.2 miles to metric and didn’t round enough, since 42.2 kms would have been OK. You would think that somebody would have caught that. For those wondering, these are acceptable marathon distances: 26.2 miles or 26 miles, 385 yards 42.195 km or 42.2 kms. I’ll also mention a race application that I saw (and maybe saved): 5 km marathon (3.7 miles) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/79 "2021-03-15T15:25:54Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > He was Chair of ANSI and President of ISO, but I’m not aware he ever worked at NBS/NIST That is what I had heard, but when I googled him, it didn’t say. But to have attained presidency of the ISO he must have had a career in standards. This morning’s Votemaster had an item on the Dutch electoral system and mentioned (jocularly, to be sure) that one of the 47 parties would not touch another of them “with a 3.048-meter pole”. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720/80 "2021-03-15T16:15:27Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > 5 km marathon (3.7 miles) 🤯 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-precision/937720.md?page=5)