"IF THE FIRST-OFF VERSION OF A DOCUMENT OF 30 PAGES, TYPICALLY HAS 30 ERRORS. HOW MANY TIMES WOULD IT BE NECESSARY TO REPEAT THE PROOF READING OF EACH DOCUMENT BEFORE THE NUMBER OF ERRORS WAS 1?"

Usually three readings are required to ensure the number of errors is only 1 or 2.

If initially there were typically 30 errors, suspicion arose that there might perhaps be 32 or 33….and that further errors may be introduced in the process of correcting the 30. Therefore, I would have to have the document back and read it again.

I decided it would be necessary to repeat the proof reading of each document after each set of corrections until the number of errors was down to 1. Only then would I be prepared to accept that the chances of another appearing were so remote the document was 'finished' and could be printed.

I had to record the number of errors found against the number of proof readings. A pattern emerged showing that usually three readings were necessary. I recorded these errors in a simple graphical form:-

As well as being a very useful tool for me in the proof reading work, this collection of simple graphs provided the evidence to go ahead and publish with confidence.