Is 98.6 degree F more precise than it ought to be?

I heard somewhere that the “98.6 degrees F” “normal” human body temperature number isn’t really correct, its a conversion artifact from a European study, in C, not F. Lessee, (98.6 – 32) * 5/9 = 66.6 * 5/9 = 333/9=37.0.

Plausable, not proved.  Further investigation supports skepticism. The 37 (no ‘.’, much less “.0″) is far from categoric. There are real numhers, with variation ranges. 98.6 fits in some of them, but if you don’t measure 98.6 you’re not abnormal.

The British survey team that realized Mt. Everest was the tallest in the world got 29,000′ exactly. They figured nobody would believe it, so they published an official value of 29,002.

See the Wikipedia page on Everest (Chomolungma): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest