What’s it mean if the temperature is going to be 30% warmer or 30% cooler?
Let’s take something that we know works: distances. If I have a distance that’s 2 meters, 30% more is (x=2, s=0.3; x*(1+s)
) 2.6 meters, and 30% less is (x=2, s=-0.3; x*(1+s)
) 1.4 meters. Covert these three values to feet, you get 6.56
, 8.53
, and 4.59
respectively. If we plug these numbers back into our scaling equation: more is (x=6.56, s=0.3; x*(1+s)
) 8.528 feet, and less is (x=6.56, s=-0.3; x*(1+s)
) 4.592 feet. These values are slightly off due to rounding.
The problem with temperature is that it’s not zero-based. A value some incremental amount warmer than 5 degrees Fahrenheit is still cold. We need to “normalize” temperature. To do that, we have to find a value such that anything warmer feels warmer, and anything cooler feels cooler. We’re going to use 22°C (72°F) for this value.