Perfectionists can apply higher standards than mathematicians - mathematics does not require anything like perfection. A mathematician sets the level of rigor h

Perfectionists can apply higher standards than mathematicians - mathematics does not require anything like perfection. A mathematician sets the level of rigor he needs to prove an interesting theorem. A perfectionist mathematician would never prove anything, because he would never be able to convince himself that he had the right axioms. The same thing goes for engineers - a perfectionist would never finish the blueprints for the rocket. It doesn't take a perfectionist to catch a floating point error, it just takes experience, good people, and due diligence. That's hard, but it ain't even close to perfection.