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Hey, I don't know if you'll appreciate my little crusade, but: It's best to use a fraction when talking about a reduction in amount, and a multiplier if you're

Hey, I don't know if you'll appreciate my little crusade, but: It's best to use a fraction when talking about a reduction in amount, and a multiplier if you're talking about an increase. For example "one fifth my salary" would be a reduction, "5x my salary" indicates a tremendous increase. Five "times" your current salary. Carry on and Happy New Year

mikestew 10y ago
Well, I appreciate your little crusade, as the original statement was unparseable. I allow for a little ESL when I run across such things, and I get the idea, but the statement might as well have been "a lot less than I make now" for all the sense it made.
fuayenaha 10y ago
"x5 less my salary" means what you think it means. If he's making $100000 a year, he'll make x - x * 5, this is, he'll have to pay his employer $400000 a year.
- bnjms 10y ago
  This is clever though by this interpretation he will make 5 times (implied) [his salary], less his salary. Totalling four times present salary. Quite some trouble.
snovv_crash 10y ago
Yeah that annoyed me. I would have used 20%. The other case is when somebody uses % for something greater than unity, eg 500% instead of 5x.
- delinka 10y ago
  Further with the percentages: "200% more" is not "2x" but many seem to write like that. "200% more" would be twice as much (200%) MORE than already existing (100%) for a final value of three times (300%) the original value.
brian-armstrong 10y ago
I like "5x less" as a shorthand for saying you have to apply 1/5. There's something pleasing about the idea that you don't need to change your sentence structure to say something is less rather than more, and I think in this case the intent was perfectly clear.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- kristopolous 10y ago
  "1/5" is a drop in replacement. This isn't a hard thing to do. I've seen small children do it with ease.
- sbov 10y ago
  Usually shorthand is shorter than the alternative, but not so when comparing "5x less" to "1/5".
  - brian-armstrong 10y ago
    You would likely need to say "1/5 as much" to be grammatically and semantically correct. It doesn't flow as nicely.

mikestew 10y ago

Well, I appreciate your little crusade, as the original statement was unparseable. I allow for a little ESL when I run across such things, and I get the idea, but the statement might as well have been "a lot less than I make now" for all the sense it made.

fuayenaha 10y ago

"x5 less my salary" means what you think it means. If he's making $100000 a year, he'll make x - x * 5, this is, he'll have to pay his employer $400000 a year.

bnjms 10y ago
This is clever though by this interpretation he will make 5 times (implied) [his salary], less his salary. Totalling four times present salary. Quite some trouble.

snovv_crash 10y ago

Yeah that annoyed me. I would have used 20%. The other case is when somebody uses % for something greater than unity, eg 500% instead of 5x.

delinka 10y ago
Further with the percentages: "200% more" is not "2x" but many seem to write like that. "200% more" would be twice as much (200%) MORE than already existing (100%) for a final value of three times (300%) the original value.

brian-armstrong 10y ago

I like "5x less" as a shorthand for saying you have to apply 1/5. There's something pleasing about the idea that you don't need to change your sentence structure to say something is less rather than more, and I think in this case the intent was perfectly clear.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kristopolous 10y ago
"1/5" is a drop in replacement. This isn't a hard thing to do. I've seen small children do it with ease.
sbov 10y ago
Usually shorthand is shorter than the alternative, but not so when comparing "5x less" to "1/5".
- brian-armstrong 10y ago
  You would likely need to say "1/5 as much" to be grammatically and semantically correct. It doesn't flow as nicely.