Numerical Precision Quotes

Numbers are the most certain things we have.

In a few years, all great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and that the only occupation which will be left to men of science will be to carry these measurements to another place of decimals.

Numbers tend to give the impression that there's more order in the world than there is.

I've always thought that one of the the great thing about physics is that you can add more digits to any number and see what happens and nobody can stop you.

Rounding to the nearest cent is sufficiently accurate for practical purposes.

Whenever I see a forecast written out to two decimal places, I cannot help but wonder if there is a misunderstanding of the limitations of the data, and an illusion of precision.

Lucy, dear child, mind your arithmetic. You know in the first sum of yours I ever saw there was a mistake. You had carried two (as a cab is licensed to do), and you ought, dear Lucy, to have carried but one. Is this a trifle? What would life be without arithmetic, but a scene of horrors.

I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these calculations [of Pi], having no other business at the time