Rounding error

The rocket's malfunction was down to a rounding error in the mathematics of its trajectory guidance.

In an email, a computer program named Statcheck informed him that a 2013 paper he had published on multiculturalism and prejudice appeared to contain a number of incorrect calculations – which the program had catalogued and then posted on the internet for anyone to see. The problems turned out to be minor – just a few rounding errors – but the experience left Kauff feeling rattled.

In the budget of the rocket forces, the 200 thousand dollars for the investigation was a mere rounding error.

Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, recently called Chrome's market share “a rounding error, to date” in an interview with TechCrunch.

As Carl Emmerson, deputy head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “The size of the UK’s public finances means you can give away £1bn a year and it’s not much more than a rounding error.”

The sum of money involved is small and, compared to the trillions of dollars traded each year, almost a rounding error.