Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Bluesky Threads My cat’s medicine lists his weight down to trillionths of a pound by RayTrain
Pristine-Elk-2899 on May 23, 2026 6:06 pm Precision matters. A .000000000001 lb difference could make the difference between nothing happening and Catzilla.
ConscientiousWaffler on May 23, 2026 6:07 pm Why does it instruct you to refrigerate and shake him well before giving him his medicine?
aitherion on May 23, 2026 6:09 pm The most precise scale available to regular consumers and it’s at your local vet
TheAgentD on May 23, 2026 6:19 pm It’s a floating point error. 13.86 cannot be represented exactly with floating point numbers, so it was rounded to the closest representable number.
CaptainChaos74 on May 23, 2026 6:26 pm This smacks to me of a measurement in SI units being incorrectly converted to imperial.
CardOk755 on May 23, 2026 6:29 pm Well, you can’t use that medecine because his weight has surely changed since the prescription.
RoflMyPancakes on May 23, 2026 6:33 pm Probably taken in kg then converted to lb and then stored as a floating point without truncation.
SleveBonzalez on May 23, 2026 6:52 pm I was going to say it was probably converted from kg, but it’s still a little excessive.
itchygentleman on May 23, 2026 7:04 pm the question is if they took the measurement as he was inhaling or exhaling
A-K-L-P on May 23, 2026 7:04 pm Imagine how much ink those extra numbers have used over the course of years, potentially decades.
Mightsole on May 23, 2026 7:13 pm “Would you like to have exactly 14774357732108 atoms arranged conforming the configuration of molecular cat medicine or not?” Ahh weight
21 Comments
I say nfw the scale measures to that degree…
When you store your weights in floating point
Precision matters. A .000000000001 lb difference could make the difference between nothing happening and Catzilla.
Why does it instruct you to refrigerate and shake him well before giving him his medicine?
The most precise scale available to regular consumers and it’s at your local vet
Hope your cat is better 🌷
it’s 13.86 and lazy programming 😄
Actually down to the ten-trillionth of a pound.
Ok..
You have a very precision vet for your cat …he/she cares..
It’s a floating point error. 13.86 cannot be represented exactly with floating point numbers, so it was rounded to the closest representable number.
This smacks to me of a measurement in SI units being incorrectly converted to imperial.
Well, you can’t use that medecine because his weight has surely changed since the prescription.
Probably taken in kg then converted to lb and then stored as a floating point without truncation.
…count the decimal places again.
Your vet must have some extremely sophisticated equipment.
I was going to say it was probably converted from kg, but it’s still a little excessive.

the question is if they took the measurement as he was inhaling or exhaling
Imagine how much ink those extra numbers have used over the course of years, potentially decades.
“Would you like to have exactly 14774357732108 atoms arranged conforming the configuration of molecular cat medicine or not?” Ahh weight
That’s a heck of scale they used.