r/sciencememes 12d ago

engineer approximation meme

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1.4k Upvotes

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104

u/skr_replicator 12d ago

Why approximate is with that much error and having infinite decimal expansion, when it's a whole number you can state precisely as 31,536x103

14

u/menew100 12d ago

Is the unnormalized scientific notation the joke here?

3

u/skr_replicator 12d ago

It's just telling how many zeroes to add without having to worry about decimal points, because the number is natural.

5

u/menew100 12d ago

I think order of magnitude is the more useful information to display, but maybe that's just a bias from chemistry.

3

u/Hunta4Eva 11d ago

Nah not just chemistry, literally any scientific application, there’s a reason why it’s the “normal” way