Effectively zero means: the signal is real, but it never crosses your threshold.
Interpretation
A quantity can be nonzero and still be “nothing for you” if it stays below the system’s threshold of registration.
A working definition:
- X is effectively zero for system S iff X does not produce a detectable change in S’s macrostate (within S’s noise, time horizon, and attention window).
This is the threshold member of the same “effectively-” family:
- edge (effectively infinite)
- grain (effectively continuous)
- threshold (effectively zero)
Clarifying Questions
Gaps & Inconsistencies
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