The fun with percentages: people get it wrong even when it hugely affects their bottom line. > “The ban has drawn the tea industry into complete disarray… If w

The fun with percentages: people get it wrong even when it hugely affects their bottom line. > “The ban has drawn the tea industry into complete disarray… If we go completely organic, we will lose 50 per cent of the crop, (but) we are not going to get 50 per cent higher prices” Thinking simplistically like that (the entirety of the cost is not in production, ofc), you need 100 per cent higher prices (double) to cover for losing 50 per cent (half) of the crop — this "tea conglomerate expert" has not thought this through :) Percentages are so ingrained in our culture, but with them being a relative measure, they are so easy to confuse. Why not speak in simpler terms to help yourselves? "Losing half the crop, we'll need to double the prices (to break even)."