When a captioner is transcribing a show live -- a news broadcast or a sporting event, for example -- there is a lot more margin for human error.
But Federer, with his 945-point lead in the rankings, has much more margin for error in the sprint for No. 1.
Izzo said that teams from the six power conferences might feel more comfortable upgrading their schedules because they would have more margin for error in the regular season.
Georgia and South Carolina were the preseason favorites in the SEC East, but if Tennessee finds a way to pull the division upset, Georgia has no more margin for error and Florida's early-season win over Tennessee becomes more important.
Maybe the Qatar Airlines model represents a more attainable future: having traditional airlines, which have more margin for error than newcomers, operate a few business-class-only flights on the routes on which premium seats are in highest demand.
If the public expects inflation to remain low and stable, central banks have a little more margin for error so that even if policy is somewhat looser than it should be, inflation is less likely to take off.
More creativity and more insistence on his involvement -- flanker screens, moving him repeatedly in various formations, hitch passes, short tosses, any design and play that puts his hands on the ball -- might have meant more points and more margin for defensive error.
CASE STUDY NO. 3: PERRY AND IMPROVING ECONOMY Obama approval rating in November 2011: 43% G.D.P. growth in 2012: 4.0% Probability of winning the popular vote: Perry: 17%, Obama: 83% Imagine Rick Perry as the Republican nominee instead, and Obama has considerably more margin for error.
"Any time one of those systems kicks in, it's because you, the driver, have made a mistake," says Cox. "They give us a little more margin for error in that respect, but they can't overcome the laws of physics".
