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Subject:Re: Use of term nominal and nominally From:"D. Margulis" <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET> Date:Sun, 19 Jul 1998 11:00:43 -0400
stephen lubell wrote:
>
> Can anyone expand on the engineering use of the term "nominal" and its
> adverbial alternative "nominally"? (As in "nominally -48 VDC) What
> synonyms are commonly used for this sense?
>
Stephen,
The engineering usage of _nominal_ is itself nominal. (How's that for a
foggy Sunday morning!) Engineers know--and say frequently--that there is
no such thing as an exact dimension or measurement. Every value has some
uncertainty built into it. Thus a line that has the _name_ "-48 V DC"
may actually deliver anything between -50 V and -46 V DC and still be
acceptable. (I made those numbers up. I have no idea whether that is a
realistic range in electrical engineering terms, so please don't beat me
up.) "Plug the fisterus into the nominal -48 V DC outlet" means
something different from "Plug the fisterus into the nominal +24 V DC
outlet." The point is to identify which line you mean rather than to
assert that the actual number is accurate within 0.1 V.
