[rob_c]

Less approximations and more representations of complex things at times. (Just my opinion)

I prefer comparing it to complex numbers where I can't have "i" apples but I can calculate the phase difference between 2 power supplies in a circuit using such notation.

Nobody really cares about the 3rd decimal place when taking about a speeding car at a turn but they do when talking about electrons in an accelerator, so accuracy and precision always feel mucky to talk about when dealing with irrationals (again my opinion).

[tsimionescu]

Well, 3.141 is an approximation of pi, not a representation of it, insomuch as you use it in an arithmetic expression. Of course, you can write 3.141... to just represent pi, but you can't eaisly use that in an arithmetic expression. For example, I can't tell you from "mechanical" operations if 3.141... - 3.1417 > 0, I have to lookup how big pi actually is.