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"Brazil's inflation rate hit 80 percent per month. At that rate, if eggs cost $1 one day, they'll cost $2 a month later." Really.
by tkeller 16y ago
"Brazil's inflation rate hit 80 percent per month. At that rate, if eggs cost $1 one day, they'll cost $2 a month later."
Really.
- noelchurchill 16y agoIt's like this article was written by a high schooler.
- rbanffy 16y agoI am an engineer. I frequently do such approximations ;-) For most uses, like prices of eggs, it's close enough.
- panacea 16y agoI think you need to listen to the audio podcast version before you disparage the style of exposition they use. The Planet Money folk unashamedly try and explain economic current affairs and stories as simply as possible. It's essentially their self professed raison d'être and they do a good job of it. Quibbling about the the accuracy of their simplified examples is missing the trees and the forest.
- tkeller 16y agoI am going to have to steal that line about the trees and the forest.
- noelchurchill 16y agoYou're welcome for the layup opportunity to score some easy points. This serves as a good reminder that you will be swiftly punished on HN for making a comment that doesn't add value. In my defense, I didn't miss the trees and the forest. I was merely pointing out that the story was dumbed down, as you put it, "as simply as possible." And replying to a post pointing out their overly simplified math. Seriously, implying that 1 x 1.8 = 2 isn't even back-of-the-envelop close. However I did enjoy learning about how the Real came to be.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- sahaj 16y agoit's a close enough approximation. isn't it?
- tkeller 16y agoIt is, certainly. My only issue is that it wasn't treated like an approximation.
- wallflower 16y agoRule of 72 Divide 72 by the periodic interest rate to find the number of periods to double the money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_72 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_72
- SkyMarshal 16y agoGreat rule, should be the very first thing taught in high school when you get to exponents. Dr. Albert Bartlet of University of Colorado has an excellent lecture on its implications for population growth, environmental degradation, and other big picture problems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY
- enko 16y agoFunny you mention that "rule". It's not very accurate, and becomes less accurate the higher the inflation/interest rate goes. I just worked it out; at 80% inflation it would take 1.18 months to double, not 0.9 like the rule of 72 would suggest. That's a fair difference, and certainly more in line with intuitive expectation. Not that the OP isn't being overly finicky. Both round to 1, and only one significant digit was given anyway. But still.
- flatline 16y agoI just listened to this story on the radio and I distinctly heard them say "about $2 a month later". This could just be a transcription error, as it was produced for radio first.