afrondingsverschillen

English translation: round-off differences/rounding-off differences

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Dutch term or phrase:	afrondingsverschillen
English translation:	round-off differences/rounding-off differences
Entered by:	Inge Dijkstra

16:22 Jan 21, 2007

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!

Inge Dijkstra KudoZ activity Questions: 102 (none open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 102 Netherlands
Local time: 20:11

round-off differences

Explanation:
Google maar...

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Note added at 5 mins (2007-01-21 16:27:20 GMT)
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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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Note added at 19 mins (2007-01-21 16:41:28 GMT)
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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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Note added at 22 mins (2007-01-21 16:44:17 GMT)
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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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Note added at 1 hr (2007-01-21 17:50:28 GMT)
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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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Note added at 3 hrs (2007-01-21 19:30:17 GMT)
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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.

Selected response from:

Jack den Haan
Netherlands
Local time: 20:11

Grading comment

Thanks, Jack for all your help and clear explanations!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +2

round-off differences

Jack den Haan

4 +3

rounding

jarry (X)

3 +2

round-off differences

hirselina

Discussion entries: 15

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

14:22 Jan 22, 2007

@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'?

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

14:16 Jan 22, 2007

@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 >>

vic voskuil

Netherlands

12:20 Jan 22, 2007

...and then Van Dale puts it in a dictionary and expects everybody to instantly know what it is about. Silly dictionary people.

vic voskuil

Netherlands

12:19 Jan 22, 2007

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...

jarry (X)

South Africa

08:30 Jan 22, 2007

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

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

00:07 Jan 22, 2007

appropriate term in this context (as already conceded in my note to asker above).

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

00:05 Jan 22, 2007

@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 >>

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

00:02 Jan 22, 2007

@Tina: Sorry... I meant nearest *higher* integer.

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

23:54 Jan 21, 2007

@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.

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

23:50 Jan 21, 2007

@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)

Tina Vonhof (X)

Canada

21:42 Jan 21, 2007

'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.

jarry (X)

South Africa

18:35 Jan 21, 2007

See http://www.answers.com/rounding&r=67 for a definition of 'rounding'. By the way: 17,400,000 Google hits for rounding!

Jack den Haan

Netherlands

17:35 Jan 21, 2007

'Errors' vind ik zelf ook sterker klinken. Het blijft m.i. een mogelijkheid, maar ik zou het gewoon op 'differences' houden.

Inge Dijkstra

Netherlands

ASKER

@Jack: re: errors

17:16 Jan 21, 2007

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!

Inge Dijkstra

Netherlands

ASKER

Inderdaad: veel meer hits dan 'rounding off'! Ik had alleen op afrondingsverschillen gegoogled (+ English translation)

16:32 Jan 21, 2007

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

round-off differences

Explanation:
Due to round-off differences, a simple file comparison may not be appropriate to test the SDP output. It is then necessary to decode the BUFR files and ...
www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/interproj/nwpsaf/scatteromete...

hirselina
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French,

Dutch
PRO pts in category: 4

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

round-off differences

Jack den Haan
Netherlands
Local time: 20:11
Native speaker of:

Dutch,

English
PRO pts in category: 69

Grading comment

Thanks, Jack for all your help and clear explanations!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

hirselina: Wat is het systeem traag vandaag, kon je antwoord nog niet lezen toen ik het mijne intikte!

8 mins

-> Bedankt Hirselina.

disagree

jarry (X): "Afronding" in Dutch can mean rounding either up or down. Your note added @ 22 min. was there all right, but 'rounding error' is just as inadequate as your first answer. I thought the asker would be quite capable of translating "verschillen". Amen!

51 mins

-> According to your own answers.com reference, rounding is the same as truncation (which, of course, is rounding down and is exactly what you're saying it isn't ). Who's talking about sanity on this site ;-) // Rounding what then?

agree

vic voskuil: brrr....maar er is er maar eentje die het snelste goed antwoordde ;)

6 hrs

-> Bedankt Vic.

agree

Dave Calderhead: or even rounding discrepancies

8 hrs

-> Thanks, Dave.

52 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

rounding

Explanation:
"Afronding in Dutch can mean rounding either up or down!

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/euro_papers...
europapers11_en.htm

Conversion from the national currency unit to euro involves rounding to the nearest cent. Multiplication of amounts that have been rounded results in multiplication of the rounding differences.

Rounding Converting amounts between the euro and participating currency units will unavoidably cause rounding differences. The effects of these rounding differences vary from being merely a nuisance to being able to bring information processing to a halt;

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-01-21 18:32:44 GMT)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding

Common method
This method is commonly used, for example in accounting. It is the one generally taught in basic mathematics classes.

Decide which is the last digit to keep.
Increase it by 1 if the next digit is 5 or more (this is called rounding up)
Leave it the same if the next digit is 4 or less (this is called rounding down)
Example: 3.046 rounded to hundredths is 3.05 (because the next digit [6] is 5 or more).

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-01-21 18:40:50 GMT)
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http://www.answers.com/rounding&r=67
2. Finance. The practice of shortening publicly disclosed information by adjusting a figure upward or downward to the nearest whole number. The practice simplifies disclosure in annual reports, for example, when zeroes are omitted, and conveys to the casual observer the same information as the fully expressed data.

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Note added at 16 hrs (2007-01-22 09:09:02 GMT)
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The Chambers Dictionary: "Round off: to finish off neatly; Round down: to lower ( a number) to the nearest convenient figure; Round up: to raise a number to the nearest convenient figure."
Collins English Dictionary: "Round off: (often followed by with) to complete esp. agreeably: We rounded off the evening with a brandy; Round down: to lower ( a number) to the nearest whole number or ten, hundred or thousand below it; Round up: to raise a number to the nearest whole number or ten, hundred or thousand above it.
Oxford Concise Dictionary: "1.- Round off: bring to a complete or symmetrical or well-ordered state. 2.- smooth out; blunt the corners or angles of."
None of these dictionaries gives a definition of the verb 'to round off' that is related to figures.

'Rounding' (noun) on the other hand is defined by (among others) the Chambers Dictionary as: "The process of raising (up) or lowering (down) a number to an approximation which has fewer decimal places".

And with that I close my case.

jarry (X)
South Africa
Local time: 20:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Tina Vonhof (X): rounding differences.

1 hr

-> Thanks for some sanity on this site.

neutral

Jack den Haan: I suggested this answer additionally at 22 mins. You posted this answer at 52 minutes. BTW, there's no difference between the two. Your "common method" amounts to same as adding half of the next unit and truncating back to the preceding unit.//See note.

1 hr

-> You did not suggest this answer; you suggested 'rounding errors', which is incorrect as a translation of "afrondingsverschillen".

neutral

vic voskuil: why all these disagrees with perfectly valid answers (yours is as well btw). Is it so difficult to see the difference between down and off? and afronden does not mean either up or down. It means off, ie one digit less.//STUIVERS, Jarry

5 hrs

-> Van Dale: "Afronden; van getallen of bedragen: er zoveel bijvoegen of aftrekken dat zij op nul of vijf eindigen. Why all these 'neutrals' for a perfectly correct answer. Is it so difficult to look up a dictionary and find a definition of "afronden"?

agree

11thmuse: met Tina

7 hrs

-> Thank you

agree

Saskia Steur (X)

18 hrs

-> Thank you Saskia

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English translation: round-off differences/rounding-off differences

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