Округление

[birdwatcher]

Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor from Bengal, was the first to identify Everest as the world's highest peak in 1852, using trigonometric calculations based on measurements of "Peak XV" (as it was then known) made with theodolites from 240 km (150 mi) away as part of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. Measurement could not be made from closer due to a lack of access to Nepal. Peak XV was found to be exactly 29,000 feet (8,839 m) high, but was publicly declared to be 29,002 feet (8,840 m). The arbitrary addition of 2 feet (0.6 m) was to avoid the impression that an exact height of 29,000 feet was nothing more than a rounded estimate.

Comments

[cema.livejournal.com]

it's very Indian, btw. There is (allegedly) a tradition not to have an even number of students in a class, etc.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

У нас вон тринадцатых этажей нет.

[green-fr.livejournal.com]

Уроды :-) Причём даже не они сами, а предполагаемые читатели, не поверившие бы в случайное попадание в круглое число.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

Я проникся тем фактом, что все равно получилось круглое число, теперь - в метрах.