3 ms·
There's a nice quote from Randall Munroe on context with numbers that I think applies perfectly here. > A good rule of thumb might be, “If I added a zero to th
by squeaky-clean 12y ago
There's a nice quote from Randall Munroe on context with numbers that I think applies perfectly here.
> A good rule of thumb might be, “If I added a zero to this number, would the sentence containing it mean something different to me?” If the answer is “no,” maybe the number has no business being in the sentence in the first place.
8,450-megawatt power plant. 130 million metric tons. 850.9 micrograms per cubic meter. Etc... They're still just groups of symbols to me.
- soperj 12y agoJust because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it's not relevant to others. The kind of thinking you're proposing is how we end up with stupid car analogies and comparisons of hard drive size to libraries of congress.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- brianpan 12y agoCorollary to the rule-of-thumb: if you replaced meaningless numbers with a meaningless analogy, it also does not belong in the sentence. Generalization of the rule-of-thumb: write sentences that have meaning.