English translation: round-off differences/rounding-off differences
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Dutch to English translations [PRO] Education / Pedagogy / credit system
Dutch term or phrase:afrondingsverschillen
Op een website voor HBO-studenten staat de volgende tekst: "Door de omschakeling op het nieuwe creditssysteem zal het kunnen voorkomen dat er heel kleine afrondingsverschillen optreden". Ik zit een beetje in mijn maag met 'afrondingsverschillen'; is het zo simpel als 'rounding off differences' of kan ik 'rounding off' weglaten? Mijn vertaling luidt dan: "Conversion to the new credit system may result in minor (rounding off) differences". Anyone? Thanks!
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Met 'rounding-off difference' is trouwens ook niets mis. Ik zou 'round-off' of 'rounding-off' zeker niet weglaten!
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In plaats van 'differences' kun je trouwens ook de term 'errors' gebruiken: 'round-off errors' of 'rounding-off errors'.
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Op Wikpedia kom ik nog nog de term 'rounding error' tegen. Zie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding_error , ook voor een uitgebreide uitleg over afronding in het algemeen.
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@Jarry: According to my Wikipedia reference, round-off error is the same as rounding error. Ergo: 'rounding' is the same as 'round-off', a process of adding 5 to the next digit and chopping (i.e. truncating) it, as Wikipedia puts it. This can result in rounding either up or down. Try it with 6.4 and 6.6, for example, by adding 0.5 and chopping/truncating to zero decimal places. The answer you suggested at 52 minutes , by the way, was also additionally suggested by me at 22 minutes. Or wasn't it there when you looked? ;-)
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@Jarry, re: "You did not suggest this answer; you suggested 'rounding errors', which is incorrect as a translation of "afrondingsverschillen". Are you suggesting that 'rounding' ias a correct translation of 'afrondingsverschillen'? Rounding is a numerical process. Rounding difference or rounding error is the result of the process. In the mathematical disciple of numerical analysis, by the way, difference and error can be regarded as meaning the same.
@Jarry (con't): agree with Dave that the term 'discrepancies' could be used instead 'differences' and 'errors'. Your answer was only half an answer, by the way. How would you translate 'verschillen'?
@Jarry: Nobody is disputing that 'afronding' means rounding up or down. All I'm saying is that 'afrondingsverschillen' can be translated as round-off/ rounding-off/rounding differences or even errors (the latter in a purely numerical sense). I further >>
That definition relates to those good old days when the smallest coin available to us Dutchies was a stuiver with which we had to try and pay stuff that costed Fl 0,99 or similar....we didn´t know what to do until thát kind of afronden was invented...
To all those who answered/commented on this question:
Van Dale: "Afronden; van getallen of bedragen: er zoveel bijvoegen of aftrekken dat zij op nul of vijf eindigen". If that doesn't confirm that "afronden" in Dutch means rounding up or down, nothingwill
@Tina: From a mathematical perspective, the difference in rounding your 6.4 to 6 as the nearest lower or higher integer, i.e. 0.4, can definitely be regarded as an error, viz. a representation error. I agree, however, that 'differences' would be a more >>
@Tina: The example you give is not necessarily correct, by the way. That would depend on the kind of rounding that is required. Rounding 6.4 to the nearest highest integer, for example, would result in 7, not 6.
@Tina: Looking at it from a linguistic perspective I can see what you mean, but I note that this is at odds with the definition given in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding_error . (cont'd)
'Error' is wrong in this context. A rounding error is an error made in the rounding process. For example, if I were to round 5.4 up to 6 - that is a rounding error.
Deze term lijkt me op zich nog beter, maar is 'errors' niet wat sterker, komt voor mijn gevoel meer in de richting van 'fouten'. De volgende zin in de tekst luidt ook: "Afronding zal niet in het nadeel van de student plaats vinden". 'Differences' lijkt me wat minder 'ernstig'. Wèl veel dank voor al je uitleg, trouwens!
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2