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[–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

That's a sigfig error. A fever is 38C, which is 2 significant digits. Converting to 100° F goes up an order of magnitude so you get a free sigfig, but unless the original number was 38.0C, you don't get that 0.4, you're implying precision that the original measurement never gave you.

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  • [+] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    But the fever definition wasn't that precise. They took the average temperature, 36.88 C, rounded it up to 37 C, and somewhat arbitrarily defined a fever as 1 C above the (rounded) average. Which is perfectly fine, but it means the equivalent in Fahrenheit is 100, not 100.4.

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