Accuracy, Precision, and T-Shirts
How precise are the following statements?
- The Canadian public debt as of 15 December 2010 was $275,872,478,414.44 CDN.
- Canadian hourly-billing lawyers worked an average of 2043.96 hours last year.
- Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista hit .26 in 2010.
One answer: They are each precise to two decimal places.
Another answer: They are precise to 14 figures, six figures, and two figures, respectively.
I hereby state that I looked up answers to all three items before writing this column. So which of them do you believe?
Chances are, based on precision alone, you believe one of them. No one knows . . . [more]