News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars. Parent comment

Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by marcosdumay on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @11:54AM (#40225038)
Your numbers give Mars an extra ~800 million years. Nothing even close to 3/4 billion.

Besides, deciding what was inhospitable for early life is an exercise of noisy assumptions. I'd bet the error margin is larger than that difference.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by satvikpendem on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:15PM (#40225311)
3/4, as in the fraction 3 out of 4, 75%, not 3-4
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by dwaltrip on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:39PM (#40225679)
To be fair, 3/4 billion is an unusual way to write that. Much more common is 750 million, or even 0.75 billion.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by Shatnerz on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @11:58AM (#40225098)
3/4 billion = 750 million, no?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by caseyy on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:03PM (#40225170)
Long billion vs short billion?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by williamcotton on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:29PM (#40225526)
Didn’t the “long billion”, aka a trillion, stop being used sometime in the early 20th century on British English, if not earlier?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by b800h on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @01:02PM (#40226048)
Some of our books in UK school in the 1980s listed 10^12 as a billion. That doesn't mean it wasn't officially changed in the early C20th though.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by Teever on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @11:59AM (#40225109)
?????????

800 million is greater than 3/4 billion?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by adastra22 on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:10PM (#40225250)
Maybe he misread it as 3-4 billion?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancien... by dwaltrip on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @12:38PM (#40225659)
I misread it that way too. Fractions aren't commonly used for things like millions, billions, etc.
[ Parent | on HN ]