Two chefs are trying to break the world's record for the longest strand of spaghetti. chef a measures his spaghetti strand to be 503 2/3 ft. chef b measures his spaghetti strand to be 503.7, the judges declare chef b the winner. explain why chef a should protest the judge's decision.

Chef-B didn't report the units of his measurement, so we don't know
what he's got.  Although the number he reported is bigger than Chef-A's
number, his strand might not be.   

Chef-B's strand might be 503.7 miles long, and he would certainly be
the winner.  But it might be 503.7 nanometers long, and if he reported
the unit, he would be laughed out of the kitchen.

Without units, it's just a number, and we don't know what it really means.