• soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      18 hours ago

      The first line was broadly right. But you blundered on the second, especially by phrasing it in a condescending way, because how many figures you should quote to depends on more context than just how many figures the input was quoted to.

      • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
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        8 hours ago

        It’s an old abbreviation for feet. A double quote is also an old abbreviation for inches.

        It’s a shorthand I learned from my father who was an engineer back before my country converted to the metric system.

        There’s a reply below making fun of this as the apostrophe and quote are also abbreviations for minutes and seconds too.

    • TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Not so good for building things, eh?

      The hard mounting points, set in concrete for a large generator are to be 60 feet apart, per the manufacturer’s instructions. The construction company rounds 18.288m to 18m because “significant digits, oi!”

      The mounting points are now 28 centimeters too close together. The generator shows up on site, and now needs to sit to the side for four days while the hard points are moved. Or, maybe longer, because concrete trucks need to be scheduled ahead of time. It could be two weeks.