As Bill tried to explain with
“Indeed, if we adopt the conventions used in engineering, the absence of a decimal point implies that the actual length is between 0.5 feet and 1.5 feet. If it were expressed as 12 inches, the implication would be that the actual length was between 11.5 and 12.5 inches.”

You clearly failed to pay attention in math class when they covered the concept of significant digits. Here’s your remedial instruction. Read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_digits

With all due respect “tolerances” due to weather, humidity, etc matter. That is why we have expansion joints in concrete, roads, bridges, etc. Even liquids expand and contract due to heat.

By its very nature and composition, something like bread is prone to variations. That’s the problem here. People are trying to apply an exact measurement for what is basically an organic item.

Yes………correct…….and that is why its a convention. So that people do NOT consider that ‘a foot’ is exactly 12.000 inches and try to design thing that way.

That’s an engineering standard a margin of error of 50%? It’s amazing that cars run and buildings stand.

Do you have any citation supporting this statement? I never thought something a foot long was anything other than 12″ long. When I asked recently for a foot of fuel line hose, I wanted 12″, 11.5″ would not have been acceptable because it would not have been long enough to be exactly right.

I do not support the idea of this suit, but I am against this general sloppiness that many seem to think is acceptable, that if a seller of goods or services provides nearly what was bargained for, that should be acceptable.