Talk:Parsec

Precision

“ It is therefore 360×60×60/2π AU = 206,264.806 247 AU = 3.085 677 581 31×10¹⁶ m = ~3.26 light-years. ”

I was trying to correct the precision of this calculation, but I think it is only a (close) approximation anyway, using the fact that tan(θ)~=θ for small θ. So, I have trimmed the number of significant digits.
Ray Spalding 17:49, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The computation offered here is not immediately clear. I think the use of the approximation tan(θ) ~= θ for small θ is acceptable here, but we should either mention this as a whole, or leave out any form of computation. I prefer the latter, that is, to just state that a parsec is approximately ... km / miles / etc . without any calculations.

Maurice Termeer 08:21, 27 Mar 2006 (UTC)

4,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers?

4,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers doesn't fit here, does it?

3.08567758 E+16 m = 4,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers is not correct. First of all there are two too many zeros. Secondly, if 1 km = 1000 m then the result would start with a 3, not a 4.

3.08567758 E+16 m = 30856775800000000 m = 30856775800000 km

Or am I missing something here???

Midavalo 8 March 2006