Category: Math
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Scientific Notation and Significant Figures, Without the Jargon
1500 could mean 2, 3 or 4 significant figures, and there is no way to tell from the digits alone. Scientific notation exists specifically to remove that ambiguity — here is how,…
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The Percentage Mistake Almost Everyone Makes
A 25% rise followed by a 20% fall lands you exactly back where you started — not down 5%. Here is why percentage changes do not cancel the way they feel like…
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Why 2.675 Rounds to 2.68 on Paper but 2.67 on a Computer
This is not a rounding bug. It is what happens when a number that looks exact in decimal cannot be stored exactly in binary — and it explains a whole category of…
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Area vs. Volume: Why Doubling a Room Doesn’t Double What You Think
Make every dimension of a shape 20% bigger and the area grows 44%, not 20% — and the volume grows 73%. The gap between linear, area and volume scaling explains a lot…