• Darrell_Winfield@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Ackchyually

    Fever is not 100F. A fever is defined as 100.4F. Why 100.4 when 100 is a much easier to remember and handle number? Because fever is defined in humans as 38C, and that converts to 100.4F.

    • BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s been a while but I think they tried to establish 100F as the average human body temperature. But after they established that baseline turns out they were off by 1.4 degrees and couldn’t change it.

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re right. April 8th 2000 Christopher Walken caught a fever that changed the course of history forever. He had a fever and the only cure was more cow bell.