Monday 15 July 2024

An interesting approximation

I was intrigued that the sign said "Scandinavia 401 miles (approx). I think it's a clever joke but suppose we took it seriously. Now approximating must mean some decision to round. Here the rounding has been to 3sf and that might be appropriate if the actual distance is measure to the nearest yard or inch. It would work if you are measuring to a point. The problem is that Scandinavia is quite an amorphous concept. Where would we place the point to mark Scandinavia?