Pounds to Kgs

The peculiarly named publication the Bonner County Daily Bee fell into the perennial trap of insignificant figures on May5 in an article about mercury contamination of fish, specifically in its pounds to kgs conversion:

“Of the 14 trout sampled — which were between 3.2 and 13 pounds, or, 1.46 and 5.90 kilograms — the mercury concentration was .285 to .930 milligrams per kilogram.”

“Of the 15 whitefish sampled — which were between 1.1 and 2.1 pounds, or, .52 and .94 kilograms — the mercury concentration was .163 to .354 milligrams per kilogram.”

Don’t you just love it? Between 3.2 and 13 pounds is ridiculous enough so who cares about that 0.2 pounds, but it’s the conversion to kilograms that had my teeth gnashing (it’s no surprise I have high blood pressure, is it?). They had 1.46 to 5.90 kg, which implies some increased precision in those figures not found in the poundage values. Where does that improved accuracy come from…or did they work from the kg to the lb and actually round down, it would make a pleasant change if someone did!

Meanwhile, check out the site’s all-new Significant Figures Calculator and if you want to try a few ppunds to kgs and other conversions then the OnlineConversion tool is the best there is, just watch those Sig Figs.