M&D - chapter 19-21 - The Calendar (personal equation)

[Jerome Park]

I don't know if others are familiar with this book, so...

an excerpt here---->

An excerpt from

A Tenth of a Second

A History

Jimena Canales

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/093185.html

An astronomer might say “because of the personal equation,” referring to
the worrisome fact that different individuals differed in their timing of
star transits. Referring to two well-known astronomers, the famous
historian of psychology Edwin G. Boring explained the meaning of the term:
“The equation, ‘A − S = 0.202 sec.,’ means that on average [the astronomer]
Argelander observed transits 0.202 sec. later than [the astronomer]
Struve.” While the *relative* personal equation compared two observers
against each other, the *absolute *personal equation compared one
observer’s timing of an event against the time as determined by a machine.
It again took the shape of an equation, where a single number was assigned
to a particular person. A personal equation is rarely exactly a tenth of a
second; its value tends to oscillate between one to a few tenths of a
second. It is often much more than an equation, since the intriguing term
is often used in various literary ways.
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