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From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: The Perils of Nutrasweet: digits of precision
Message-ID: <637@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 14:29:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.637
Posted: Tue Aug  6 14:29:39 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Aug-85 02:55:14 EDT
References: <771@burl.UUCP> <394@petrus.UUCP> <182@steinmetz.UUCP>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 40
Summary: 

In article <82@unc.unc.UUCP> oliver@unc.UUCP (Bill Oliver) writes:
>In article <1634@orca.UUCP> andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) writes:
>>>> I am positive that more than .007% of the
>>>> people I know are affected by Nutrasweet-sweetened soft drinks,
>>>> so I am much more inclined to believe the 10% figure.
>>>
>>>	3-digit precision based solely on anecdotal evidence?
>>>	This sugar/aspartame/honey/etc stuff
>>>	is getting more & more ridiculous every day!
>>
>>Both the quoted numbers (.007% and 10%) have only one significant
>>digit.  Leading and trailing zeroes are not significant.
>>
>>If we're going to argue that science is on our side, we must avoid
>>abusing mathematics, the language of science.
>>
>>  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew)       [UUCP]
>
>Perhaps the misunderstanding is due to problems of measurement as
>opposed to numerical representation.  While, indeed, as far as
>representation goes, 7E-3 and 1E1 are of the same significance,
>a measurement of 0.007 has a much different significance than
>10. For instance, a measurement of 0.007 grams implies an accuracy
>of 0.0005 grams, while a measurement of 10 grams implies an accuracy
>of 0.5 grams.  Indeed, in this case, 10 is by no means the same as
>10.000, and the trailing zeroes are of great importance.

This is what I was trying to say in an earlier posting.  My  apologies  for
my misuse of terminology.

(...  I will not shoot from the hip.  I will not  shoot  from  the  hip.  I
will not shoot from the hip.  I will not shoot from the hip. ...)

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI                      Common Sense is what tells you that a ten
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.             pound weight falls ten times as fast as a
Santa Monica, CA  90405           one pound weight.
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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