this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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What I'll defend, however, is fractional measurements when precision matters.
With decimal measurements, precision can't be nearly as granular. If your measurement is precise to one 1/8 of a unit, how do you represent that in decimal? 0.625 implies your measurement is precise to the nearest thousandth, but rounding it to 1 also isn't precise. 5/8, however, tells you the measurement AND the precision.
With fractional measurements, you can specify precision by changing the denominator to any number, whereas decimal is essentially fractional measurements, but with fixed denominator at powers of 10. For instance, a measurements of a half-unit with levels of precision between 0.1 and 0.10, fractional can be 6/12, 7/14, 8/16, 9/18, 10/20, 24/48, etc. Decimal can't specify that precision without essentially writing a sentance.
What's simpler to record? "24/48" or "0.5 +- 0.208333...."
That is not a flaw of decimals. It is a flaw of you not knowing how precision is encoded in decimals.
0,7583 means 0,7583 ± 0,00005.
0,758300 means 0,75833 ± 0,0000005.
0,76 means 0,76 ± 0,005.
That is why when in a store an item costs 7,5€, we don't say 7,5€. We say 7,50€. Because it is precise to a hundredth of a €, not a tenth of a €.
I understand sig figs. That's my entire point. What I'm saying is that fractions don't require the use of sig figs, and especially don't need any "+/-" bullshit at the end when precision isn't measures at a granularity that isn't a perfect power of 10.