According to LessWrong, Google's calculator has a bug with the parsec, an astronomy unit of distance. Ask it to convert one parsec to meters and you get the correct value: three times ten to the sixteenth meters. But do any math with that number—even multiply by one—and the calculator gives you a different answer: five times ten to the fourteenth meters. That's wrong by a factor of fifty-seven point three. The bug lies in Google's math function: it defines a parsec correctly as one astronomical unit per arcsecond, but then treats arcseconds in degrees instead of radians. That error factor of fifty-seven point three? It's exactly how many degrees are in a radian. The bug reveals a confused approach to angular units in Google's converter. While most people won't encounter this edge case, let's hope no astronomers discovered it the hard way.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton