This is why rounding numbers is evil. Better just to live with the fractions!!1!
Anya: It's lovely! I wish it was mine! Oh like you weren't all thinking the same thing. Giles: I'm fairly certain I wasn't.
'The Killer In Me'
What Happens in Natter 35 Stays in Natter 35
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Nutty - May 19, 2005 6:57:04 am PDT #5508 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
§ ita § - May 19, 2005 6:59:22 am PDT #5509 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Well, banking for one.
Get the fuck out of town. Any others? I mean, is there a reason for it to be applicable to GPAs?
Better just to live with the fractions!!1!
Tell that to 3.14159265.
Gudanov - May 19, 2005 7:01:03 am PDT #5510 of 10001
Coding and Sleeping
This is why rounding numbers is evil.
I don't think rounding is always evil and the irrational numbers support me in e-mail.
Jesse - May 19, 2005 7:01:54 am PDT #5511 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I mean, is there a reason for it to be applicable to GPAs?
For grading on a curve? Yeah, I'm just making shit up now.
Nilly - May 19, 2005 7:05:46 am PDT #5512 of 10001
Swouncing
Any others? I mean, is there a reason for it to be applicable to GPAs?
My guess (and it's the first time I've heard of the rule either, so it's only a guess coming out of my sieve) is that it's a rule for statistics, for when you're using lots of numbers, when you don't want to skew an average or change the sum significantly. Since statistically half the numbers that end with 5 end with odd-5 and the other half ends with even-5 that's just a way to make sure you round-up around the same times of numbers that you round-down, so the sum - and the average - aren't changed.
For something like one perosn's grades, though, just the single number, no statistics nvolved, I don't see how it is needed. Unless, of course, you want to average out grades from students all over. It's still not needed for each single student, but for a group, maybe.
Susan W. - May 19, 2005 7:08:19 am PDT #5513 of 10001
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Never heard of banker's rounding before. We were taught always to round 5's up.
Oh, and in news I'm sure will stun you all, it appears that I'm a liberal. However, I'm married to a pro-government conservative. (Which doesn't mean that he's pro this government, but that he believes in social programs, environmental legislation, and other things that are anathema to the powers that be, while still adopting a more conservative view on foreign policy and certain moral issues than a liberal would.) It's a Pew Research Center thing, and you can take the quiz here: [link]
Apparently the liberal group has surged in size since 1999. None of which surprises me at all, because if I'd taken that quiz in '99, I probably would've come out as a conservative Democrat--there's nothing like a radical government to drive people who disagree with them away from anything resembling the center!
shrift - May 19, 2005 7:13:58 am PDT #5514 of 10001
"You can't put a price on the joy of not giving a shit." -Zenkitty
Also, shrift, Yahoo Mail is being a phenomenal bitch, so, in short:
Got it! Will check into it this weekend while you're, you know, off having fun and I'm being tortured with bridal stores.
Gudanov - May 19, 2005 7:14:10 am PDT #5515 of 10001
Coding and Sleeping
No surprise here, I'm a liberal.
I didn't like all the choices though. There were a number of questions where I wanted to say "I agree, but..."
Frankenbuddha - May 19, 2005 7:17:55 am PDT #5516 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Up against "Lost".
And "The Inside" most likely.
Strega - May 19, 2005 7:24:32 am PDT #5517 of 10001
Nilly's correct. If the sample size is large enough, all that rounding will slightly increase the average value, because a .0 is not changed, .1 to .4 are rounded down, and .5 to .9 are rounded up. If you round .5 to the even number instead of always rounding up, you prevent that tiny inflation. You could round .5 to the odd number instead, as long as you were consistent about it.
For something like one perosn's grades, though, just the single number, no statistics nvolved, I don't see how it is needed.Well, it is an average. But yeah, there's no reason to bother with it for one person's GPA. If you were comparing one school's average grades to another's, then it might make a slight difference.