3 ms·
That doesn't equal 4 it equals 4.00000009534. So, there is a precision issue, probably using floats to keep division results.
by hawkice 9y ago
That doesn't equal 4 it equals 4.00000009534. So, there is a precision issue, probably using floats to keep division results.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- vacri 9y agoI once saw a youtube video which said that an object moving at 4m/s would be slowed down by [thing] by 0.00006m/s, so its new velocity would be 3.99994m/s ... except that no, its new velocity would be 4m/s. The author, a physicist, ignored sig figs. 4 - 0.00006 = 4, when you're dealing with measurements :)
- ouid 9y agosig figs are just an informal way of dealing with uncertainty that can be applied procedurally by high school students.
- vacri 9y agoIt's not about uncertainty, it's about precision. Unless, of course, you think that scientific notation is limited to only high schools.
- ouid 9y agoWhat do you think the difference between precision and uncertainty is?
- vacri 9y ago'Uncertainty' is a much more ambiguous term that means many more things than 'imprecision of measurement'. Still, I'm interested to hear why you think sig figs are high-school only when they're the standard way of writing in scientific notation. Do you genuinely think that the example I gave from the video is reasonable? It sounds like you're a theorist and have no experience in real-world application.