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From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: The Perils of Nutrasweet: digits of precision
Message-ID: <622@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Aug-85 21:55:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.622
Posted: Fri Aug  2 21:55:07 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 06:03:42 EDT
References: <771@burl.UUCP> <394@petrus.UUCP> <182@steinmetz.UUCP> <208@steinmetz.UUCP> <5183@elsie.UUCP> <1634@orca.UUCP>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 26
Summary: 

In article <1634@orca.UUCP> andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) writes:
>>> 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.

I agree. 10% has only one significant  digit,  but  .007%  has  three.  The
decimal  point  makes the two leading zeros significant (i.e.: the original
article claims accuracy to three decimal places).

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The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
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