Actually no, it isn't a floor. It's meant to be used in place of (perception check for traps)ove 10 feet (perc. check)ove 10 feet (ad nauseum). Anytime you would ne rolling repeatedly. It's not really 'radar', and you can certainly choose to roll and roll lower. It's meant to represent the average of all those rolls. It's up to the DM if he wants to assume you're always paying attention or not (repeated perception checks) or if you're distracted by something else (mapping, tracking, etc) and requires an actual roll. In the rules ot is also the target for most stealth checks, and has sort of become the de facto target foe most traps in adventure writing. But you most certainly can get lower.