Post #1261259
2026-03-24 17:40 UTC
You see this kind of nonsense all the time in the press as well as project progress or company performance discussions, with people reading false meaning into minor percentage point differences, differences that would be swallowed up if anyone took the time to put error bars on their numbers.
Replies (1)
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@kevlin@mastodon.social 2026-03-24 17:49
You also see it when people are switching between units. For example, a journalist asking Google for a unit conversion on an approximate figure in one system of measurement into another. "The car went another two kilometers (1.243 miles) before it was stopped by the police." "He was said to be about 6 feet (182.88 cm) tall." Such numerical solecisms are all the more ironic in outlets that claim they value accuracy in their reporting.