Curious Omission In New-Style Formats

[Ethan Furman]

On 07/11/2016 09:28 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 01:04 am, Ian Kelly wrote:

> Er, what? I count *five* digits in "00123", not three.
>
> You seem to be assuming that "precision" can only refer to digits after the
> decimal place, but that's a dubious proposition.

I will readily admit to not having a maths degree, and so of course to 
me saying the integer 123 has a precision of 5, 10, or 99 digits seems 
like hogwash to me.

But I'm always willing to learn.  So please explain what 123 with a 
precision of five integer digits means, and what to do we gain by saying 
such a thing?

--
~Ethan~