Editors should allow only significant digits
“Out of 80 experiments, 45 (56.3%) had a favourable outcome.” If you read this sentence in a manuscript, would you want to edit the figures?I certainly would. There are too many digits in ‘56.3%’. The decimal 3 is meaningless; 56% is precise en...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pensoft Publishers
2020-02-01
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| Series: | European Science Editing |
| Online Access: | https://ese.arphahub.com/article/50999/download/pdf/ |
| _version_ | 1797427614127751168 |
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| author | Arjan Polderman |
| author_facet | Arjan Polderman |
| author_sort | Arjan Polderman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | “Out of 80 experiments, 45 (56.3%) had a favourable outcome.” If you read this sentence in a manuscript, would you want to edit the figures?I certainly would. There are too many digits in ‘56.3%’. The decimal 3 is meaningless; 56% is precise enough. If the number of favourable outcomes is 44, the percentage score is 55%; with 46 successes it is 58%. There is no uncertainty here.But what should we do when we are dealing with 237 out of 623? Both 237 and 238 result in a score of 38%. Wouldn’t it be wise to distinguish these outcomes by writing 38.0% and 38.2% respectively? Well, if such precision is important, we can simply present the absolute values. Absolute values are always accurate; percentages and fractions are only approximations.What might be the purpose of accurate percentages? I appreciate that percentage scores and fractions are better for comparisons than absolute values. With percentages I can see at a glance that 237/623 is more than 165/465 (38% and 35% respectively). Percentages are quick – and inaccurate, even with additional decimals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:47:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0764113829cf437f8956ec1184ee6ae2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2518-3354 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:47:04Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Science Editing |
| spelling | doaj.art-0764113829cf437f8956ec1184ee6ae22023-12-02T15:09:54ZengPensoft PublishersEuropean Science Editing2518-33542020-02-01461210.3897/ese.2020.e5099950999Editors should allow only significant digitsArjan Polderman0Retired managing editor and copy editor“Out of 80 experiments, 45 (56.3%) had a favourable outcome.” If you read this sentence in a manuscript, would you want to edit the figures?I certainly would. There are too many digits in ‘56.3%’. The decimal 3 is meaningless; 56% is precise enough. If the number of favourable outcomes is 44, the percentage score is 55%; with 46 successes it is 58%. There is no uncertainty here.But what should we do when we are dealing with 237 out of 623? Both 237 and 238 result in a score of 38%. Wouldn’t it be wise to distinguish these outcomes by writing 38.0% and 38.2% respectively? Well, if such precision is important, we can simply present the absolute values. Absolute values are always accurate; percentages and fractions are only approximations.What might be the purpose of accurate percentages? I appreciate that percentage scores and fractions are better for comparisons than absolute values. With percentages I can see at a glance that 237/623 is more than 165/465 (38% and 35% respectively). Percentages are quick – and inaccurate, even with additional decimals.https://ese.arphahub.com/article/50999/download/pdf/ |
| spellingShingle | Arjan Polderman Editors should allow only significant digits European Science Editing |
| title | Editors should allow only significant digits |
| title_full | Editors should allow only significant digits |
| title_fullStr | Editors should allow only significant digits |
| title_full_unstemmed | Editors should allow only significant digits |
| title_short | Editors should allow only significant digits |
| title_sort | editors should allow only significant digits |
| url | https://ese.arphahub.com/article/50999/download/pdf/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arjanpolderman editorsshouldallowonlysignificantdigits |