significant digits FAIL

[TWRackers]

From Google Maps...

Looks like SOMEone wasn't listening when their teachers talked about significant digits in calculations.

And it looks like that construction site has a lot of work to be completed in the last 24 hours. (Compare completion and update dates.)



heh heh heh...

 

[MarkII]

Wait, I think it has just been updated -- now they are saying that it is 27.8500003814716% completed. Progress! :roll:

MarkII

 

[DexterLB]

There's only one word I can say - LOL!

 

[luke strawwalker]

Could be worse... you could be stuck driving a schoolbus with a load of screaming kids going into downtown Houston to someplace you've never been before with a teacher that doesn't know crap from Crisco and all you've got to guide you-- a printout from Yahoo Maps! that's about 2 inches square, zoomed out to the same view you'd have from a Space Shuttle, and obscure and usually totally incorrect driving instructions in the "From: here To:there" dialog printed underneath... :y::jaw::bangpan::confused2:

I'm not thinking about it any more-- I'm still on summer vacation... OL JR

 

[jadebox]

Could be worse... you could be stuck driving a schoolbus with a load of screaming kids going into downtown Houston to someplace you've never been before with a teacher that doesn't know crap from Crisco and all you've got to guide you-- a printout from Yahoo Maps!

You could do what my brother's substitute bus driver did years ago. She wanted to make sure she got all the kids to school on time so she ran the entire route a half-hour early. It wasn't until she got to the school with an empty bus that she realized her mistake.

On the subject of signifcant digits, I created one of my first science fairs back in Junior High school right after I got my first scientific calculator. So, all the calculations I presented were made to eight decimal places. I thought it was pretty impressive until the first judge asked me if I had heard of "significant digits."

-- Roger

 

[DAllen]

From Google Maps...

Looks like SOMEone wasn't listening when their teachers talked about significant digits in calculations.

And it looks like that construction site has a lot of work to be completed in the last 24 hours. (Compare completion and update dates.)



heh heh heh...

I work in road construction...If I had to guess this is the work of an engineer fresh out of college who had the EXACT amount of work completed every day for the first week. He/she quickly realized the utter futility of updating web site few read while a contractor is breathing down their neck trying to get answers about quirks in the plans and/or proposal. I am currently working with an engineer just like this. Newbie engineers are amusing.

-Dave

 

[MarkII]

All of my digits, significant and otherwise - fai; mee somed tims...

MarkII

 

[TheAviator]

In Google's defense, this is probably a number storage/display issue. Since computers work in binary instead of decimal, the number can only be stored with a finite amount of accuracy. The error in that accuracy is that extra 00003814697 on the end. Someone just forgot to tell the computer not to display as many digits as it could.

/geekiness

 

[n5wd]

Could be worse... you could be stuck driving a schoolbus with a load of screaming kids going into downtown Houston to someplace you've never been before with a teacher that doesn't know crap from Crisco and all you've got to guide you-- a printout from Yahoo Maps! that's about 2 inches square, zoomed out to the same view you'd have from a Space Shuttle, and obscure and usually totally incorrect driving instructions in the "From: here To:there" dialog printed underneath...

Dude, I got 'em on the bus, and I'll take care of 'em after we get to where we're going, but hey, YOU'RE the one that's supposed to be able to get us where we're going! :neener: Now, leave me alone and let me sleep! :roll:

Seriously, why haven't you invested in a portable GPS yet? If you're doing field trips, even occasionally, to places that you're not familiar with, the TomToms and Garmins of the world are better than a fifth of Jack!

 

[Handeman]

Seriously, why haven't you invested in a portable GPS yet? If you're doing field trips, even occasionally, to places that you're not familiar with, the TomToms and Garmins of the world are better than a fifth of Jack!

Because I've followed people to a common destination because "they had a GPS". I had my maps and got so frustrated when they took the least efficient routes and wasted time and gas. I would rather use my maps, much more effective.