There are 180 whole units between Freezing and Boiling points of water in F.
100 in Clesius.
F is "more precise."![]()
Technically true by a narrow definition, but meaningless as a value judgment. Precision isn't automatically better than the alternative. Sometimes it's a false standard. If you estimate pi to be 3 +/- 0.5, that's not very precise, but it's accurate (i.e. the correct answer is within the specified range). However, if you estimate pi to be 4.75608 +/- 0.000003, that's very precise, but very inaccurate.
Another example of false precision is the myth that human body temperature is supposed to be precisely 98.6 degrees F. That's nonsense. It varies from person to person and moment to moment. But when the average human body temperature was measured, it was measured in Celsius and reported to be roughly 37 C. Then somebody mistakenly ignored the fact that that was an estimate, treating 37 as a precise figure and converting it arithmetically to its Fahrenheit equivalent, 98.6. The accurate way to convert the figure would've been to say that human body temperature averages around 99 F, give or take. But by treating it as a precise number, failing to round off the decimal that was merely an artifact of the arithmetic, the false impression was created that body temperature was an exact and unvarying 98.6. In that case, the blind pursuit of precision led to inaccuracy.
Last edited: