Scientific Reports - Significant Figures
I'm currently writing a report where I have a table stating certain parameter values and their errors. Obviously I want the report to look nice, but since the errors of certain parameters vary by orders of magnitude, I'm not sure how to write it.
To provide more context: this is a computational physics report, and the numbers in the superscripts/subscripts represent the value that was added to the corresponding value to cause a 1% change in some function.
It currently looks like:
How should I be writing the errors and parameters?
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1 answer
+1 user37826, that is my answer. I understand you are showing the +/- in the superscript and subscript, respectively, but I don't like this format at all; for one it doesn't give the confidence level being quoted. 90%? 95%? 99.9%? is that a 3-sigma or 5-sigma result?
If I were your advisor I'd tell you to stop trying to save space or be "efficient" and spell it out, every time.
79.5 error of [-2.0, +2.0] at 95% confidence.
If you want to put those in a table, fine, but do one parameter per line. Stop trying to cram your results into a tiny space; the first rule of academic writing is clarity, and you are creating unnecessary confusion. And, as user37826 says, follow the style guide, or lacking that, previous publications in a respected journal. The presentation there is likely something readers are accustomed to seeing, and therefore achieve the goal of clarity.
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