• AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Comparing similar latitudes in north america to where i live in sweden is a wild experience. The average temperatures are double, sometines almost triple, during summer.

    • fonix232@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      On which scale? Because that kinda matters.

      Celsius? Kinda hot but not necessarily deadly.

      Kelvin? You’ve turned your city into an air fryer.

        • foo@feddit.uk
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          2 days ago

          It’s still an odd way to compare temperatures:

          • Double of 1 degree is 2 degrees, so not very different.
          • Double of 30 degrees is 60 degrees, so wildly different.
          • Double of -20 degrees is -40 degrees, so a lot colder instead of warmer.
          • ProfessorPeregrine@reddthat.com
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            2 days ago

            This is an example I use when I teach data types. It happens because the scale (F or C) is an “interval” scale. Its zero is not based on the absence of the property it is measuring, so you can’t apply a multiplicative transform to it like, “double”.

            It is like lining up by height, calling the shortest person the standard and measure height of everyone else from that. So, the next tallest might be 2 cm, the next 4cm. But clearly the person we are calling 4cm is not twice the height of the person we called 2 cm.

            • fonix232@fedia.io
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              2 days ago

              Even if the scale was aligned with absolute zero - like Kelvin - it would not be able to describe temperature changes in the multiples primarily because our FEEL of temperature is what matters here. And since humans live in the approx. temperature ranges of -40 to 80 (using an extended range to cover cases like the Arctic/Antarctic stations, or saunas), the best scale to use would be a Celsius scale shifted somewhat to make 0deg the most optimal neutral temperature - which is, in my opinion, 16 degrees Celsius.

              • ProfessorPeregrine@reddthat.com
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                2 days ago

                Ha, while funny it still doesn’t work. If we use an interval scale with zero degrees Lat defined as 16 degrees Celsius, how many times hotter is zero degrees Lat than-1 degrees Lat? If you are using “temperature comfort” as your underlying property, zero had to be the university defined “lack of all comfort” which I don’t think you will find. Subjective comfort is notoriously difficult to make into ratio scale. Pain measurement is a well- known example.

            • foo@feddit.uk
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              2 days ago

              Yes, the difference in temperature is interesting, I don’t want to seem dismissive of that. Just the choice of wording was also interesting.

        • fonix232@fedia.io
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          2 days ago

          You’d think so, but without specifying the scale… it could be anything. ANYTHING!

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Which way? Because it gets incredibly hot in the Canadian prairie. There is no body of water to regulate temperature so the summers can get serious heat waves while the winter is absolutely frigid. Granted, Edmonton is still considerably further south than Stockholm.