Re: [LEAPSECS] Precision vs. resolution

From: John Cowan <cowan_at_CCIL.ORG>
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 13:51:46 -0400

Rob Seaman scripsit:

> Interesting question. Perhaps it is the distinction between
> addressability and physical pixels that one encounters on image
> displays and hardcopy devices? (Still have to posit which is which
> in that case :-)

Thanks to those who responded either publicly or privately. In summary,
"infinite are the arguments of mages". Some take resolution to be a
near-synonym for precision, some take it to be a synonym for granularity.
The more definitive the source, the vaguer the definitions.

I should perhaps explain that I was interested in an internal
representation for durations, which I am now representing as a triple of
months, minutes, and seconds (the number of minutes in a month is not
predictable, nor the number of seconds in a minute given leap seconds,
but all other relationships are predictable: 10080 minutes/week, 12
months/year, 100 years/century, etc.) To this I would add a fourth
nonnegative integer representing "clock resolution units" and wanted to
make sure I had the terminology correct.

Ah well.

--
John Cowan  cowan_at_ccil.org  http://ccil.org/~cowan
In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side
with the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
        --Gerald Holton
Received on Thu Jun 01 2006 - 10:52:02 PDT

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