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wbercx | 3 years ago

How would you interpret “+/- 10 years”?

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Macha|3 years ago

As a margin of error.

"this tree was planted 200 years ago, +/- 10 years" -> the tree was planted between 190 and 210 years ago.

"this comet will next be seen in 100 years, +/- 10" -> The comet will visible between 90 and 110 years from now.

wbercx|3 years ago

Yeah, interesting. In The Netherlands it is commonly used to mean "more or less", or "approximately", unless it is used in formulas.

ben174|3 years ago

In English, "give or take".

simonh|3 years ago

+10 years could be interpreted as 10 years in the future, and makes perfect sense in that context, but -10 years for the past seems weird. I'm not sure why.

wingerlang|3 years ago

I don’t think they are comparable really.

10+ years means over ten years.

+/- 10 years is an addition/subtraction and making a range.