Originally Posted by
Chris Scott
T I've always been paranoid and bloody-minded about retaining my mental-arithmetic skills, even if it only involves achieving an approximate result. The latter is invaluable for checking that, in the 8-figure result from the calculator, the decimal point is in the right place...
Just as necessary with computers as GIGO still operates. We who grew up with sliderules had to keep track of the decimal point (or factor of ten!) so it has always been second nature, and remaind so even in such mundane surroundings as the supermarket check-out queue