# Significant Digits of Business Metrics By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-05-04 In high school science classes you learn about significant digits in calculations. If a measuring device is only accurate to the tenths (e.g. 0.1), any calculations using that device should be rounded to the tenths. The purpose is to not overstate the precision of the calculation or measurement because many digits imply precision and confidence. Within the realm of science and engineering, significant digits are... significant. It is valuable to know the range of errors to avoid unintended consequences. It's a form of being honest in the implied uncertainty of whatever the calculations and measurements mean. Once you enter the world of business or analytics, the concept of significant digits disappears entirely. In my time in analytics and organizations, not a single person has ever mentioned significant digits. Nor did any mentor or manager ever provide guidance around significant digits. Well, this is not entirely true. I have had managers tell me two things regarding metrics and rounding. The first was to not include any decimals because it was ugly, and leaders can't easily consume it. The second was to always ensure a calculation never ended in a zero or five because it looks like you made up the number. Apparently, zeros and fives are not seen in the wild. Besides these managerial tricks of the trade, no one in business seems to care about significant digits. Yet, the idea of scientific management permeates all organizations. If you choose to go down the rabbit hole that is measurement theory, you'll quickly find how much error and relativity exist in the universe. So, how accurate are business metrics really? What level of precision does a machine learning model really produce? No one seems to care. No data science or business class remotely touches on the topic. I can't help but wonder how dishonest we are being with business metrics and calculations. If people were aware of the real level of uncertainty, would they still make the same choices? I suspect they would be shocked and paralyzed. Ignorance is bliss. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Calculations]] [[Probability]] [[Measurement]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Metrics]] [[Business]] [[Science]]