Errata

Although Spectrums was edited many times by a number of different people, every publication contains at least some error or omission. That’s why the book business has a common saying: “Well, there’s always the next edition!” On this page we’ll include any “bugs” that may have crept in to Spectrums. Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or confusion these may have caused!

  • Pg 12: In the sidebar, “trillion” should be “billion” in two places. (A billion is 10^9; a trillion is 10^12.)
  • Pg 31: It was not George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, but rather his first annual message to congress in 1790 (later called the State of the Union address) in which he proposed the metric system.
  • Pg 35: The distance between Earth and Venus, at their closest, is listed as 38 billion meters. This is 38 Gm, not 41 Gm.
  • There is some disagreement on how visible the Andromeda Galaxy is, though in optimal situations you can actually see it without a telescope.
  • Pg 121: Temperature scale: The value for Absolute Zero is correct for Kelvin (0) and Celsius (-273.16) but incorrect for Fahrenheit. Instead of -495.67°F, it should be -459.67°F.