calculated error

Home for lunch after my Wednesday morning Finance course before heading off to work, and something is bothering me. This morning in college I spent almost an hour on one section of my current course. The reason for this? I could not get the figures to add up to what I know they should have been. Now I like numbers. I love their order and the control I (usually) have over them, and the fact that there is always a solution if you look hard enough. I find it satisfying to do in the midst of the chaos we call life.

But today I realised something: calculators lie.

After the hour I spent on the problem I made a cup of tea and silently ranted for a short while, then went back to it. When I looked at the problem afresh I realised that there was no way numbers with zeros at the end could come to a total with an eight at the end. Ever. A mathmatical impossiblilty. Yet my calculator seemed to think it was an exception to this rule. So I threw it out the window. And I felt better. But it got me to thinking how much we rely on things such as calculators. Because when it really comes down to it, I didn't need it. I sat down and worked it out with a pencil and paper. And I felt better.