this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
1 points (100.0% liked)
xkcd
8973 readers
1 users here now
A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Obligatory repeat of the fact that the ratio between miles and kilometres is ln(5), correct to less than 0.01% (yes, that's a percent of a percent).
The golden ratio or Fibonacci numbers are used more often for the same trick but they're off by, at best, very slightly worse than 0.5%.
‱
Fibonacci numbers are easier than ln(5) to calculate on the spot tho
You're not wrong. The ln(5) trick is for when you have a scientific calculator but it doesn't have the conversion built in.