My comments Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (19 Oct 2005 18:37 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 19:17 UTC)
Re: My comments Thomas Bushnell BSG (19 Oct 2005 19:44 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 19:55 UTC)
Re: My comments Thomas Bushnell BSG (19 Oct 2005 20:11 UTC)
Re: My comments John.Cowan (19 Oct 2005 20:10 UTC)
Re: My comments Thomas Bushnell BSG (19 Oct 2005 20:13 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 20:25 UTC)
Re: My comments Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (19 Oct 2005 20:23 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 20:36 UTC)
Re: My comments Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (19 Oct 2005 21:36 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 21:42 UTC)
Re: My comments Bradd W. Szonye (19 Oct 2005 22:08 UTC)
Exactness (was Re: My comments) bear (20 Oct 2005 01:50 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (20 Oct 2005 03:45 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (20 Oct 2005 09:13 UTC)
Re: Exactness Bradd W. Szonye (20 Oct 2005 20:15 UTC)
Re: Exactness bear (20 Oct 2005 22:09 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 02:08 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 03:05 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 08:15 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 18:38 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 20:12 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 20:29 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 20:38 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 20:44 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 21:20 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 21:44 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (21 Oct 2005 22:18 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (21 Oct 2005 22:48 UTC)
Re: Exactness Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (22 Oct 2005 00:34 UTC)
Re: Exactness Thomas Bushnell BSG (22 Oct 2005 01:02 UTC)
Re: Exactness Per Bothner (22 Oct 2005 00:59 UTC)

Re: My comments John.Cowan 19 Oct 2005 20:09 UTC

Thomas Bushnell BSG scripsit:

> > While they seem silly for small integers, inexact integers make sense
> > for huge values. For example, people often round huge integers to the
> > nearest million or billion. An even better example: Avogadro's number is
> > an integer, but it should not be represented as an exact integer,
> > because its exact value is unknown.
>
> What makes you think Avogadro's number is an integer?

A bad example, no doubt.  But the current world population, though
unquestionably an integer, is not exactly known, and it is quite plausible
to say that it is 64########.

--
John Cowan  xxxxxx@reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
Rather than making ill-conceived suggestions for improvement based on
uninformed guesses about established conventions in a field of study with
which familiarity is limited, it is sometimes better to stick to merely
observing the usage and listening to the explanations offered, inserting
only questions as needed to fill in gaps in understanding. --Peter Constable