Talk:Dreadnoughtus

Approximations in science

Approximations in science are estimates which are often not based on actual measurements. For example, fossils whose remains are incomplete, or weight estimates that can never be actually measured. In palaeontology, weight estimates have always given difficulty, and there are no end of authors who have said this. Also, of course, measurements from one or a few individuals do not give the full range of adult sizes in a population. We add to the problem when we use a template to translate it, from one scale to another. In general, it is the height of bad science to present estimates as exact figures.

In the case of Dreadnoughtus, the authors themselves give the rounded figures, as follows:

"Using the scaling equation recently proposed by Campione and Evans (logBM = 2.749 * logCH+F − 1.104, where BM is body mass and CH+F is combined humeral and femoral circumference), these values yield an estimated body mass of 59,291 kg (~59.3 metric tons, or 65.4 short tons) for this Dreadnoughtus individual".

So we will use the figures 59.3 metric tons or 65.4 short tons, as they suggest. Other comparative figures will be rounded to one decimal point in the kilogram column. Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:24, 1 January 2015 (UTC)