[time-nuts] Misuse of word "decimate" (was Re: Short term 10MHz source)

Tom Van Baak tvb at LeapSecond.com
Thu Jan 10 18:10:48 UTC 2019


> In his comment below, Mark has used the word "decimate".

I contacted Mark about this as soon as he posted yesterday. It turns out he did not mean decimate. It's just the word he accidentally chose. He was offering an opinion on precision or resolution; not decimation.

Decimation involves a reduction in the number of samples; a lowering of the sample rate.

The discussion is about improving TICC resolution. You might think "the more digits the better". If 10 is good, turn it up to 11, or 12, or maybe even 15 (as a Bob special). But it turns out it's more complicated than that in the case of the TICC. More digits isn't always better. I'll explain in detail later.

Meanwhile, don't let this decimate thread go too far. It's not what Mark meant. Treat it more like a typo than a manifesto.

/tvb





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