I don’t have to learn shit about that goofy ass measurement system
Comment on Why DDG is the superior serch engine
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
60’ is 18m.
Y’all need to learn about significant digits.
dismay3915@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
Delightfully ambiguous :-)
dismay3915@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m talking about the one that english people use
jobbies@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
What’s the wee apostrophe for? That means fuck all to me.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
It’s an old abbreviation for feet. A double quote is also an old abbreviation for inches.
It’s a shorthand I learned from my father who was an engineer back before my country converted to the metric system.
TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not so good for building things, eh?
The hard mounting points, set in concrete for a large generator are to be 60 feet apart, per the manufacturer’s instructions. The construction company rounds 18.288m to 18m because “significant digits, oi!”
The mounting points are now 28 centimeters too close together. The generator shows up on site, and now needs to sit to the side for four days while the hard points are moved. Or, maybe longer, because concrete trucks need to be scheduled ahead of time. It could be two weeks.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
An engineer using DDG for units conversion should be procecuted for malpractice.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
244,837,834,977,280
soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
The first line was broadly right. But you blundered on the second, especially by phrasing it in a condescending way, because how many figures you should quote to depends on more context than just how many figures the input was quoted to.