[MD] 2 + 2 = 5?

[Kevin Perez]

Hello Case.
 
> I put "rounding error" among by 20 ideas that shook the world. The butterfly
> effect essentially results from "rounding error." It is that little bit of
> slop we can never clean up. Even in the esoteric whirled of mathematics,
> irrational numbers are examples of "rounding error" gone wild.
 
"rounding error" as cause???  As in it caused the world to shake, causes
Chinese butterflies to flap their wings and causes irrational numbers to transcend???
 
Stay too long in the world of metaphors and backasswards begins to look
normal.
 
> The Pythagoreans found the idea so disturbing they made the guy who
> spilled the beans walk the plank.
> 
> Yeah, it is funny all right. Unless you think about it a while then it make
> your head hurt.
 
See what I mean?
 
Seriously, Ron (hello Ron) is right, to a point, when he says, "There's no such
thing as absolute precision."  The point is context.  Whether it's measuring
property lines with a laser range finder or the diameter of a bone screws with a
micrometer the measurement's precision is itself a measure of the
repeatability and reproducibility of the measuring process.  Repeatability is a
measure of the variation among several measurements obtained by the same
person using the same measuring device to measure the same thing.
Reproducibility is a measure of the variation among several measurements
obtained from different persons using the same measuring device to measure
the same thing.  Several nearly identical measurements obtained from several
people would describe a highly precise measuring process.
 
The point is there is no context that does not involve variation.
 
Static patterns?  We don't need no stinkin' SPOVs.
 

Kevin
 
 

 
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