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From: andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: The Perils of Nutrasweet: digits of precision
Message-ID: <1634@orca.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Jul-85 13:17:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: orca.1634
Posted: Wed Jul 31 13:17:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Aug-85 04:04:17 EDT
References: <771@burl.UUCP> <394@petrus.UUCP> <182@steinmetz.UUCP> <208@steinmetz.UUCP> <5183@elsie.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 16

>> I am positive that more than .007% of the
>> people I know are affected by Nutrasweet-sweetened soft drinks,
>> so I am much more inclined to believe the 10% figure.
>
>	3-digit precision based solely on anecdotal evidence?
>	This sugar/aspartame/honey/etc stuff
>	is getting more & more ridiculous every day!

Both the quoted numbers (.007% and 10%) have only one significant
digit.  Leading and trailing zeroes are not significant.

If we're going to argue that science is on our side, we must avoid
abusing mathematics, the language of science.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew)       [UUCP]
                        (orca!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay)  [ARPA]