"There is no such thing as a fact" - Not So

[PHILHOOVER@aol.com]

I jump back into this thread because this is, in my opinion, one of the most 
"misquoted" of Dr. Deming's sayings.  The misquoting continues with a 
statement that Paul Hollingsworth wrote.  That was, "As soon as we count or 
measure something, there are no facts, because there are no absolute values."

My problem here is with the word, "Count."  Even Dr. Deming said that if we 
count the number of prime numbers between one and one hundred, there is a 
fixed number.   Paul goes on to correctly quote Dr. Deming, "There is no true 
value of any characteristic or condition that is defined in terms of 
measurement or observation"  (Not Counting).  This is the key; that the 
number obtained is based on measurement or observation.

How many sides of a dice?  Six.

But when we measure or observe, we need to understand the way we measure, the 
capabilities and limitations of the equipment used, or the operational 
definition of our observations.  All these  effect the number we obtain.  In 
these cases there is no true value!

Phil Monroe
PhilHoover@aol.com