this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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When precision matters, that precision is considered in the measurements. You would never put 0.5 +- 0.208333, you express it as 0.50 +- 0.21. The error value is just the standard deviation of the measurements and it doesn't make sense to use more than 2 significant digits.
Another example would be measuring large distances using a ruler with centimeter precision. In that case, a measurement would be expressed as 250 +- 1 cm. Converting the measurement from cm to mm, it is 2500 +- 10 mm. This is much more cumbersome with inches or feet as changing units means updating the precision, possibly reducing it.
Did I defend using imperial units?
I'm defending recording precision without having to add a qualifying statement because you can otherwose only increase precision by orders of magnitude in decimal.