[yorkiemom]

“My goodness; all that long-form stuff when you can do an approximation in your head in one second and get 6 or 7.”

I like his exactness myself. Engineers don’t appropriate, it just feels wrong not to have calculations out to 3 significant digits or more.

[yorkiemom]

Appropriate should’ve been approximate.

My tablet changes words on me for the express purpose of making me look stupid.

I might go over calculations ad nauseam but I don’t proof read!

[steve86]

Almost everything Einstein ever did was an approximation and a thought experiment. In many cases he left it to others to work out the tedious details. Engineers get a false sense of security with the idea that more digits=more accuracy. It often isn’t, of course.

[Cboldt]

Actually, engineers do approximate (except when doing economic justification calculations). Up until pretty recently, engineering math was done on slide rules, which are limited in the number of significant digits.

Scientists, on the other hand ...

There is that old joke about an engineer and a girl getting closer to each other in steps, "by half." The engineer gets close enough for all practical purposes. The scientist never gets there.