Re: In an RDBMS, what does "Data" mean?

"Anthony W. Youngman" <wol_at_thewolery.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:<2M76I7CMVHqAFw9q_at_thewolery.demon.co.uk>...
> In message <c0e3f26e.0405160530.257134c8_at_posting.google.com>, Tony
> <andrewst_at_onetel.net.uk> writes
> >> I just find it fascinating that, while we know that Newtonian Mechanics
> >> doesn't belong in the set Accurately_Matches_The_Real_World, so many
> >> people here (on the grounds of it's mathematical correctness) seem to
> >> believe that relational theory does. That argument just doesn't make
> >> sense to me.
> >
> >You keep saying that (on and on, tediously...) but it just doesn't
> >work, does it? After all, didn't NASA put a man on the moon using
> >Newtonian Mechanics? Expensive and complex successful experiments
> >have been done to observe the effects of relativity, but it hardly
> >impacts on the real world as lived in by us humans does it? If your
> >analogy holds any water at all (to give you the benefit of very large
> >doubt), it suggests that relational theory will do just fine for
> >pretty much anything we ever want to do "in the real world".
>
> I think you need to read up - and fast!

I will indeed read up - though don't worry, there is no real urgency: I am not personally involved in putting men on the Moon.

> If NASA had used Newtonian Mechanics, from what I know, the astronauts
> would never have come back.
>
> Even under such "near earth" conditions as that, the discrepancy between
> Newtonian Mechanics and Relativity would have been enough to ensure the
> rockets ran out of fuel, stranding the astronauts in space.
>
> We're talking velocities of 7 miles a second here, more than fast enough
> for relativity to make itself felt. That's roughly c*10^-5 - not small
> beer. Actually - it looks like we probably need relativity even with the
> Shuttle!

Despite being no expert, I am pretty confident that you are completely wrong here. 0.0000376 * c sounds pretty small to me. How much discrepancy in fuel usage could that lead to - a millilitre even? I bet whatever difference it makes is insignificant compared to other more mundane factors such as the accuracy of measuring the rate of fuel use, quality of fuel, etc.

But yes, I will do a little Googling to see if you are right. If I had a hat, I'd be prepared to eat it if it turned out you were correct. Received on Tue May 18 2004 - 11:59:20 CEST