Dramadigits

A dramadigit is a number with too many significant figures, usually to emphasize the importance of the number; [cite book |author=Dewdney, A.K. |title=200% of Nothing: From "Percentage Pumping" to "Irrational Ratios" - An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year=1993 |pages=182 |isbn=0-1471-57776-6] the more digits produce the appearance of being more precise or scientific. A dramadigit may have many non-zero digits after the decimal or, in the case of large numbers, may include extraneous non-zero digits before the decimal.

For example, reporting the U.S national debt limit is $11,314,872,345,061 is a dramadigit, where $11.315 trillion is sufficient.

Another example is a blood alcohol content of 0.061053%, which indicates a high level of precision. A value of 0.06% BAC or 0.061% BAC is useful for law enforcement.

ee also

* Arithmetic precision
* Num

References