The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

vr602 · 2013-11-13 Reply Admin

Jim:
Cumulative round off error.
Start with 1 year equals 356 days (a dyslexic input error). Dividing by 2 gives six months = 178 days. Add 178 to get to 12 months = 356 days. Add another 178 to get to 18 months = 534 days. Add another 178 to get to 24 months = 712 days.

A carpenter would have the same type of error if he cut a short measuring stick and then used that stick to measure a room. Especially if he cut the stick to the wrong length in the first place.

Don't think so. You could cut a stick to any length at all, use it to measure a room, then use the same stick to create fitted furniture. Your stick doesn't need to be an accurate yard or metre or anything. It's just your stick. As long as you use the same stick for both operations, no rounding errors.

chubertdev · 2013-11-13 Reply Admin

anonymous:
chubertdev:
anonymous:
Then the post I quoted was correct? You said it wasn't before.

Exactly. It was after.
By quoting it, I made it correct?

You made it, correct.

2013-11-13 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
anonymous:
chubertdev:
anonymous:
Then the post I quoted was correct? You said it wasn't before.

Exactly. It was after.
By quoting it, I made it correct?

You made it, correct.

Well, all of my posts are always correct. I don't need anyone quoting them to make them so.

2014-07-30 Reply Admin

Woah, I'd totally forgotten I submitted this. Blast from the past man.

I expected the story to be prettied up a bit, but a few things that I feel obligated to put out there. I was never a DBA; this was a co-op placement. Also, I believe this was someone else's bug to fix; people were baffled and asking around for fresh eyes to look at it (I guess they only ever looked at one version at once instead of comparing them?). That's why the "better" simply replaced the "bad" instead of being improved (to my knowledge) - they could improve it later, but they needed the discrepancy fixed now.

Interesting Year Length Logic

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