Mike_Peel added a comment. In https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T105623#1657997, @daniel wrote:
> @Jc3s5h what, then, would be an example for a reliable/acceptable source > giving us a number with no hint at the uncertainty? When should we consider > an uncertainty unsourced? If Nature gives the size of a crater on Mars in > kilometers, what uncertainty should we assume, and should it be considered > sourced? If a number is published without an uncertainty next to it, then assuming an uncertainty definitely shouldn't be counted as 'sourced'! Unless the article/journal specifically states that all numbers have an uncertainty of 1 in their last significant digit. > I'm afraid the distinction of sourced vs unsourced uncertainty makes things > harder to handle in code and more difficult to understand for users. I think this is vital, though. How else would you (or reusers) tell whether a number *actually* has an uncertainty of 1 in the last significant digit or whether that has just been assumed for conversion purposes? > I suggest we do what we always do, really: we assume that people follow the > establish conventions when entering data. Most people never think of > significant digits or uncertainties explicitly, but we all used the concept > intuitively, all the time, when we say that the store is "two hundreds yards > away" or it's "170 Miles to Sometown". Please just keep it simple. Accept the given central value, but don't automatically assume an uncertainty for it, and don't show that in the user interface. Ask people to provide uncertainties wherever possible. If there isn't a given uncertainty, then use the number of significant digits when converting numbers to make sure that the post-conversion number has sensible numbers of digits, and include a discussion of that in the documentation describing the conversion process. TASK DETAIL https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T105623 EMAIL PREFERENCES https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/settings/panel/emailpreferences/ To: Mike_Peel Cc: Mike_Peel, Jc3s5h, thiemowmde, kaldari, daniel, Stryn, Lydia_Pintscher, Liuxinyu970226, Snipre, Event, Ash_Crow, mgrabovsky, Micru, Denny, He7d3r, Bene, Wikidata-bugs, Ricordisamoa, Kelson, MSGJ, Klortho, Wolfvoll, Aklapper, aude _______________________________________________ Wikidata-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikidata-bugs
