Why, when converting from one measurement to another, do people use a ridiculous amount of precision?
The example that prompted this rant is a news report about the earthquake off Japan early this morning.
"The quake occurred about 8.8 miles below the earth's surface, the USGS said. The expected height of the tsunami was only expected to be 0.5 meters (19.6 inches)."
link
Oh yes, I'm sure the USGS expect the tsumani to be 19.6 inches exactly. Why translate an obviously rounded estimate (half a metre) to a value exact to +/- 2 mm? Call it twenty inches, or even a foot and a half. 19.6 inches? Ridiculous!