On Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 10:46:48 PM UTC-8, Paul Schlyter wrote:
On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:48:27 -0800 (PST),
On Monday, December 10, 2018 at 10:32:15 PM UTC-8, Paul Schlyter
wrote:
On Mon, 10 Dec 2018 07:43:48 -0800 (PST), StarDust

In fraction one can use proximation, like the closest to .835
is
27/32 = 0.84375 or +1/32 away is 7/8 th!
I think, a carpenter, cook or plummer don't care about 1/32
difference? LOL!

Actually, 167/200 is even closer to 0.835 since it is exactly the
same. You cannot get closer than that...

If you care about a 1/32 difference depends on your demands of
precision. A cook may not care, but a precision mechanic will
care.
If there's a mismatch of 1/32 cm between your eyepiece and your
eyepiece holder on your scope, you may be unable to insert your
eyepiece.

But can you visualize 167/200?
That's what we talking about here!
1/32 cm is .012" it may be good enough to fit for an eyepiece! LOL!

I can draw a pie diagram showing 167/200 just as I can draw a pie
diagram showing 0.835.and a diagram showing 83.5% - those tree
diagrams will look exactly pthe same.

But you talked about preferring common fractions over decimal
fractions, however a decimal fraction can easily be converted into a
common fraction.

Perhaps you, by "common fraction" meant "a common fraction where the
denominator is an even, and not a too large, power of two"? That's a
small subset of all possible common fractions.

I meant common fractions, what we use in daily life, 1/2, 1/4, 3/8 etc...
Get it?
Carpenter don't use 167/200? 1/16" is good enough to cut a 2x4!
Try to measure 167/200" with a measuring tape from Home Depot, eh?
Some how you have difficulty understanding things?
Use to work as a machinist/tool maker for an optical shop, owner was a PhD chemist and sometime he had difficulty understanding simple layman terms.
He's mined was up in the clouds all the time!
Brain gets to complicated when receives too much education, different reality I guess?