When measured spin polarization is not spin polarization.

Spin polarization is an unusually ambiguous scientific idiom and, as such, is rarely well defined. A given experimental methodology may allow one to quantify a spin polarization but only in its particular context. As one might expect, these ambiguities sometimes give rise to inappropriate interpretations when comparing the spin polarizations determined through different methods. The spin polarization of CrO(2) and Cr(2)O(3) illustrate some of the complications which hinders comparisons of spin polarization values.