(09-08-2017 08:58 PM)Dieter Wrote: [ -> ] (09-07-2017 07:10 PM)Thomas Okken Wrote: [ -> ]Not a native speaker, but what you're looking for is "decimal places."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/decimal_place
Thank you.
Then I read the wiktionary entry for "significant digit" and now I wonder if wiktionary really is a reliable source. According to the given definition ("A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed only by further zeros") 1000001 has just two significant digits. #-)
This is probably closer to what everybody has in mind:
significant figures
Not sure why it uses "figures" instead of "digits".
(09-10-2017 12:08 PM)AlexFekken Wrote: [ -> ] (09-08-2017 08:58 PM)Dieter Wrote: [ -> ]...
Then I read the wiktionary entry for "significant digit" and now I wonder if wiktionary really is a reliable source. According to the given definition ("A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed only by further zeros") 1000001 has just two significant digits. #-)
This is probably closer to what everybody has in mind: significant figures
Yes, that's much better, I think.
The Wiktionary definition seems to lack a "not": Something like "A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed
not only by further zeros" sounds correct to me.
In other words: "A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed by at least one non-zero".
However, this still does not address the question of trailing zeros that may be significant, as discussed in the Wikipedia article.
Dieter
(09-11-2017 12:25 PM)Dieter Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, that's much better, I think.
The Wiktionary definition seems to lack a "not": Something like "A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed not only by further zeros" sounds correct to me.
In other words: "A digit that is nonzero or, when zero, followed by at least one non-zero".
However, this still does not address the question of trailing zeros that may be significant, as discussed in the Wikipedia article.
Dieter
The nice part on the wiki is the approach:
be bold, change it, and if other people don't like it, a discussion starts.
So, changed:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/significant_digit
Now either someone else reverts the change (so a discussion over it can be started in the Talk page), or someone else improves it. In both case, it is a step closer to a better solution.
wiki:
- less complain
+ more action