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crntaylor

I know an accounting joke:

An engineer and an accountant are on a train when they pass between two fields of sheep.

"Boy, there are a lot of sheep in those fields." says the engineer.

"There are 1,005" says the accountant.

"How do you know?"

"Well, there are about 1,000 in that field, and there are 5 in the other one."

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The thing about this joke is that the accountant is (kinda) right. Suppose they pass one field with about 1000 sheep and lots and lots of fields with ~5 sheep. Someone who thinks "about 1000" + 5 = "about 1000" is going to get a very wrong answer, and someone who thinks "about 1000" + 5 = "about 1005" is going to do much better.

This is also why, when combining floating-point values of different widths, it is better to say single + double -> double than single + double -> single, and why the concept of "significant figures" as commonly taught in schools is dangerous.

An accountant has her purse stolen. The first thing she does is make a debit entry in the appropriate account in the thieves' ledger.

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