Post #769361
2026-03-24 17:20 UTC
There is an art (and a science) to numerical precision that seems lost in software, writing and conversation. The trick to appropriate precision is understanding accuracy. This all falls under the banner of numeracy.
For example, I just received a confirmation of a cinema booking that gave the time of the film in HH:MM:SS format. The site lists programme times in HH:MM. They normally start trailers within a few minutes of the advertised time. To list seconds is an innumerate and false promise.
Replies (2)
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@kevlin@mastodon.social 2026-03-24 17:25
I sometimes receive notifications that I can expect a delivery in a 2-hour window such as "between 12:07 and 14:07". To quote to the minute shows a failure of understanding of what an approximate range is, as well traffic and logistics. It's a 2-hour window of imprecision. Quoting to the minute shows a deep lack of understanding. Quoting to 5-minute intervals is just about acceptable. To 10- or 15-minute is more appropriate significance. But honestly, in this case, to the hour is just fine.
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@JayBazuzi@mastodon.online 2026-04-08 14:43
@kevlin humans seem to naturally want about 1.5 digits of precision most of the time.