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[Phys-L] Re: infinite sig. figs.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Tarara" <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 11:05 AM
Subject: Re: infinite sig. figs.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Uretsky" <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>

Would you send in an order with a lot of "guard" digits?


Regards,
Jack

Well in fact, that is what the Military DOES!

Back in HS/College I worked in a metals warehouse. One summer I became
the
assistant on a special job setup. We were to cut thick aluminum sheets
into
precise blocks. The tolerances were very close and the resulting blocks
had
to be polished--could have no scratches--and had to be carefully packaged
and shipped. I later learned exactly what these blocks were for---they
were
ballast blocks placed in the tails of helicopters!

Rick

This mentality is not limited to the military. I spent one summer working
for a large, multinational corporation in their quality assurance lab. One
of our functions was to retest samples after one year of storage to see if
they stayed within the original specifications. I spent two weeks testing
this one sample, and it just wouldn't come in within the specifications. So
I put in a call to the people who set the specification to let them know we
had a problem. Their response: "Oh, it doesn't need to come in at that
specification, anything up to double is fine. We just set the specification
to match the characteristics of the incoming material!" Good grief, and
people want us to run things like business?!
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