Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Decimal fetish

Dr. Grumpy: "Any changes in your weight?"

Mr. Precise: "Yes." whips out iPhone "As of this morning, since January 1, 2012, I've gained 1.5873 pounds."

15 comments:

  1. Please tell your psych- that seems to be enough of a gain to require an increase in your OCD meds.

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  2. You have to give him/her points for staying on top of his/her weight and fitness. That's certainly scores better than the alternative ("No, I've been the same weight since 1976." *chart reads 22 lb increase since last visit*).

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  3. Having been on a diet myself of late, I do see the value of reporting a LOSS that precisely!

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  4. You seem to have a beef with I Phones and the hefty data storage capacity, some of us sweeten our lives with large portions of helpful information. I would say you should exercise some restraint in your criticism, but fat chance of that. Take it from someone who knows he has met his daily walking goal of 5.25 miles per day for 134 consecutive days. Sent from my I Phone

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  5. @Ivan, there is an AP for that.

    Sorry, sorry, could not help myself.

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  6. I really want to know what scale he is weighing on that gives him that precision and how often is it calibrated?

    I am assuming he is weighing in metric and converting to pounds. Most scales I have seen are the nearest tenth of a gram. So, I guess he could be correct. If I remember correctly, a dime weighs a little over 2 grams. I hope he didn't have lint let alone change in his pocket to make those measurements inaccurate.

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  7. Packer... you beat me to the comment i was going to make! LOL

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  8. @Mary - The bathroom scales I have seen are to the nearest half pound. I would imagine that you could get them to the nearest 0.1 kg. But not 0.1 g. For a 100 kg guy like me, that would be 1 part in 100,000 precision.

    Anyway, with digital bathroom scales, you can weigh yourself three times in a row, and have more than a 1.5 pound difference in reading, depending on how still you stand, and where you position your feet.

    Of course, I am as mush a decimal fetishist as Mr Precise, but I know how to apply error analysis.

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  9. @ ronstew - You, of course, are correct. I work all day long in mg and should have reasoned better. My only excuse is a lack of sleep. I just came off of night shift.

    Our packaging line has scales that read to the nearest gram. I kept seeing those over sized scales that are now at doctors' offices. They do read to one decimal (100 grams).

    Btw, there is a 1.549% difference in my weight between now and when I got up yesterday. Should I be concerned? LOL

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  10. Mary - all depends on whether your BM this morning was smaller or larger than the one yesterday, and whether your food calorie intake was smaller, equal, or larger than yesterday's.
    So I suggest that you measure and chart all intake and output carefully to determine if this is a worrisome trend. ;)

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  11. 1.5873 pounds.... maybe he just had a few grande lattes before his appointment....

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  12. 1.5873 pounds = 719.987169 grams

    That's even MORE "precise" ;-)

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  13. Does the scale he's using take into account natural variation in gravity with geography?

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So wadda you think?