6 ms·

No, the word faster means an increase by that amount. 100% faster means twice as fast. 1x faster means twice as fast. 100% as fast means no change. 1x as fast m

by dcwca 11y ago

No, the word faster means an increase by that amount. 100% faster means twice as fast. 1x faster means twice as fast. 100% as fast means no change. 1x as fast means no change. English, you subtle trickster!

mrcarrot 11y ago
I'm not sure I've ever seen anything described as being '1x' faster, without any fractional part. It's such an uncommon usage, I really don't think you can categorically declare that '1x faster means twice as fast'.
- idbehold 11y ago
  If I said A was 50% faster than B which is faster? Because it means the same as A is 0.5x faster than B.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    For "A was 50% faster than B", it could very easily be B which is faster -- and A is half its speed. What I meant to say in my parent comment is not the use of "faster" vs "as fast" in English, but that usually in those benchmarks "Nx" means N times the speed of the baseline.
    - Zarel 11y ago
      In English, "50% faster" is unambiguously "1.5x as fast". No one would ever interpret it as meaning that B is faster.
      - SquareWheel 11y ago
        This confused the heck out of me as a kid. Saying something is 50% faster means the same as being 150% faster. Or 100% faster could also be 200%, depending on subtle language choices. Very unintuitive.
        idbehold 11y ago
        I still don't see how it could be confusing. "faster than" != "as fast as" A is 50% faster than B == A is 150% as fast as B
      - coldtea 11y ago
        Again, I wasn't talking about what's it in "proper english" -- but how it's used in benchmarks. Kevin Decker, who did the site in TFA, is a native english speaker, and yet he writes "1.5x faster" to mean baseline1.5 (and not baseline + 1.5baseline). So clearly it's not so "unambiguous" whether you can use faster in this way or not. And in fact, I've never seen any of those benchmarks where "Nx" doesn't mean the final value is N*baseline.
  - __david__ 11y ago
    Not really, that doesn't make sense. It's "0.5x the speed of b". Saying "faster" when it's really actually slower is just confusing and ungrammatical. Likewise saying "1x faster" when it's actually the same speed is gratuitously confusing.
    - idbehold 11y ago
      What doesn't make sense? Saying "A is 50% faster than B" is equivalent to "A is 150% as fast as B". Same goes for "A is 0.5x faster than B" which is equivalent to "A is 1.5x as fast as B". There is a very distinct difference between "faster than" and "as fast as" which should be very clear now.
      - mc808 11y ago
        You're 100% right (2x right?), but I think this is one of those situations like "bimonthly", where people usually intend it to mean twice a month instead of every two months. It's completely ambiguous with potentially significant costs for misunderstanding, but people refuse to make themselves clear, just because.

by dcwca 11y ago

mrcarrot 11y ago

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything described as being '1x' faster, without any fractional part. It's such an uncommon usage, I really don't think you can categorically declare that '1x faster means twice as fast'.

idbehold 11y ago
If I said A was 50% faster than B which is faster? Because it means the same as A is 0.5x faster than B.
- coldtea 11y ago
  For "A was 50% faster than B", it could very easily be B which is faster -- and A is half its speed. What I meant to say in my parent comment is not the use of "faster" vs "as fast" in English, but that usually in those benchmarks "Nx" means N times the speed of the baseline.
  - Zarel 11y ago
    In English, "50% faster" is unambiguously "1.5x as fast". No one would ever interpret it as meaning that B is faster.
    - SquareWheel 11y ago
      This confused the heck out of me as a kid. Saying something is 50% faster means the same as being 150% faster. Or 100% faster could also be 200%, depending on subtle language choices. Very unintuitive.
      - idbehold 11y ago
        I still don't see how it could be confusing. "faster than" != "as fast as" A is 50% faster than B == A is 150% as fast as B
    - coldtea 11y ago
      Again, I wasn't talking about what's it in "proper english" -- but how it's used in benchmarks. Kevin Decker, who did the site in TFA, is a native english speaker, and yet he writes "1.5x faster" to mean baseline1.5 (and not baseline + 1.5baseline). So clearly it's not so "unambiguous" whether you can use faster in this way or not. And in fact, I've never seen any of those benchmarks where "Nx" doesn't mean the final value is N*baseline.
- __david__ 11y ago
  Not really, that doesn't make sense. It's "0.5x the speed of b". Saying "faster" when it's really actually slower is just confusing and ungrammatical. Likewise saying "1x faster" when it's actually the same speed is gratuitously confusing.
  - idbehold 11y ago
    What doesn't make sense? Saying "A is 50% faster than B" is equivalent to "A is 150% as fast as B". Same goes for "A is 0.5x faster than B" which is equivalent to "A is 1.5x as fast as B". There is a very distinct difference between "faster than" and "as fast as" which should be very clear now.
    - mc808 11y ago
      You're 100% right (2x right?), but I think this is one of those situations like "bimonthly", where people usually intend it to mean twice a month instead of every two months. It's completely ambiguous with potentially significant costs for misunderstanding, but people refuse to make themselves clear, just because.