Why do people like percents so much? I just got a message that
mentioned a 2,800% increase. Why didn't they just say 29 times as
many? Wouldn't that be more clear? It would probably also be more
obviously wrong. (I suspect they really mean a 2,700% increase.
You see, there's this "increase" word which gets sloppy use. If I
have a dozen eggs and break 3 (a 3 egg decrease) then I have 9.
That's a 25% decrease. Or, if I get 3 more (a 3 egg
increase) then I have 15. That's a 25% increase. Or, a half dozen
more eggs would be a 50% increase. Or, 1 dozen more eggs would be a
100% increase. Or, 2 dozen more eggs would be a 200% increase.
Or, 28 dozen more eggs would be a 2800% increase giving me
a total of 29 dozen eggs or 29 times as many. Surprise, not 28 -
it's 29! So what do people really mean? Do they know what they're
saying at all?
Then, there's more sillyness about things getting smaller. Today I read,
"Those speeds are still almost five times slower than average ..." So,
lets see, 5 times slower. What would that be? Well, if I'm driving my
car at sixty miles per hour, what would five times slower be. Five times
60 is 300 and 300 slower than 60 would be -240. So, to go 5 times slower
than 60 miles per hour, I would have to back up at 240 miles per hour.
