When reading textbooks ensure you are looking at the right figure

This is part of the Semicolon&Sons Code Diary - consisting of lessons learned on the job. You're in the dumb-mistakes-and-gotchas category.

Last Updated: 2024-03-28

When I was reading a comp-sci textbook, I got very confused when I couldn't see a pattern supposedly present in the data. This turned out to be because I was looking at the wrong figure.

Lesson

Pay more attention to the figure number in technical texts - and never assume that the immediately adjacent figure is the right one. In particular, the layout can get screwy in e-book versions of textbooks.