Approximation: choosing useful precision

A scale unit standing alone, with no digit before it, means about that many:

shao philo — about three days

phoi miona — nine or so people

lau shiro — trees on roughly the scale of twenty-seven

rei silero — stars on roughly the scale of eighty-one

A bare scale makes an explicit choice of precision. It names rough magnitude around that scale without defining a rounding interval. In ordinary context, bare lau often has the force of "many," and bare rei can mean "a great many" or "too many to count for this purpose." Neither form claims that the quantity is literally uncountable.

Beyond ta lau (twenty-seven), exact counting becomes long-winded on purpose. Exact Phi remains available through 242; larger exact values belong in source material outside the Phi passage. Approximation is appropriate when the exact value is unknown or irrelevant, but it is not inherently more honest than precision. Safety, dosage, accessibility, allocation, accountability, and faithful reporting may require an exact source value even when the surrounding Phi account uses a rough magnitude.

The journal practice in chapter 23 will use nu ta shao philo, the third day, when exact position matters, or shao philo, approximately three days, when only the scale of the interval matters. An exact calendar identifier may remain in source material when later identification requires it.