You and me both! When I see something like "a blue whale can be nearly 100 feet (30.48m) long", I want to throw a math book at the author. "Nearly 100 feet" is "nearly 30 meters". "About $250K" is "about $660K today" at best.
My favourite is "average July temperatures have increased by 2°C (35.6°F)".
My favorite is 98.6F - your whole perspective changes when you realize that it's actually 37C.
Yes, my comment implied "about $700K" since I said one significant digit, but I have no problem at all with "about "$660K" especially when you add "at best" as you did :-). In general I think these inflation estimators are inherently very imprecise across multi decade timespans because the societal changes that occur over long periods of time mean you inevitably are comparing apples to oranges.
It's almost like everyone should just adopt the system of units and measurements that makes the most sense and is used by the very, VERY vast majority of the world.
Also true but not relevant here. That original example of overly precise dollar amounts would still be an issue. The root cause isn’t units, but innumeracy.
Sure, that example would still exist, but the example of C to F and Meters to Feet would be gone forever. Add in Miles to Kilometers, pounds to kilograms and all the rest and you've reduced the problem space dramatically.