I don't understand any of what has been said about rounding off
"immediately prior to reporting" as opposed to rounding off
intermediate results.
In the real world, reports are prepared for a reason. The
reported results will be used as inputs to further calculations.
One person's final reported result is another person's intermediate
result.
Teaching students to distinguish reported results from intermediate
results just tells them, in a backhanded way, that what they are
doing is busywork. This is a terrible message to send, even if it
is true.
If it is OK to throw away the guard digits because the result
will never be used, why not skip doing the report entirely,
since the result will never be used?
IMHO assignments should be as realistic as possible, including
following the procedures appropriate for reports that will be
taken seriously. "Pretend I'm the boss, or pretend I'm the
customer. I really want your report, so I can use your results".
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l