fuzzy math
Misleading numerical analysis
Fuzzy math is a dismissive term for calculations or reasoning that seem deliberately vague, misleading, or designed to obscure the truth.
The phrase gained prominence in American political discourse during the 2000 presidential debates: That's fuzzy math—the numbers don't add up.
It implies the speaker is being slippery with figures rather than making an honest error.
- approximationNear but inexact value
- order of magnitudeApproximate size class
- margin of errorAllowable deviation from truth
- imprecisionLack of exactness
- back-of-envelopeInformal preliminary calculation
guesswork · close enough · ballpark figure · vagueness · miscalculation · rounding · number crunching · estimation · educated guess · oversimplification · heuristic · cooking the books · creative accounting · rough estimate · ambiguity · logical fallacy · guesstimate · gradation
- Bushismsstrategery, nucular, internets, decider, fool me once
- estimatesestimate, estimation, ballpark, ballpark estimate, rough estimate
- math expressionsadd up, crunch numbers, number crunching, number cruncher, factor in
- mental mathmental arithmetic, estimation, guesstimate, ballpark, rounding
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