5 ms·

Slightly off topic, but it seems like this has been pointed out my whole life and people in general still muddle this up. Is there ever gonna be a day when tha

Slightly off topic, but it seems like this has been pointed out my whole life and people in general still muddle this up. Is there ever gonna be a day when that doesn't happen? People should seriously stop sleeping during those mathematics classes

AnotherGoodName 5y ago
Blame the % symbol that hides the '/100' fraction. If anyone was asked the inverse of 78/100 they'd correctly say 100/78 everytime.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  https://xkcd.com/2501/ https://xkcd.com/2501/ Fractions are badly understood by quite a lot of people [1], even for an operation as simple as "inverse", and especially if they had to learn one time that x^-1 = 1/x to pass a quiz. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28935891 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28935891
  - human 5y ago
    We are talking about fractions, not crystaline structures. The problem is that people forget their high school math very quickly when they stop using it. Many of us keep using it everyday.
    - tyingq 5y ago
      The recent story about consumers perceiving a 1/3 lb burger to be smaller than a 1/4 lb burger suggests it's a lower level problem than remembering high school math :)
      - Nadya 5y ago
        Had to check the calendar for the year because that story is from the 80's and the articles that circulated and were popular were mostly written in 2014-2016 and cycle back around every few years because factoids that let people laugh at how dumb Americans are seem to be popular clickbait. Seems to be making the rounds again because A&W is taking the piss by rebranding their "1/3 burger" to a "3/9 Burger". I also had to double-check that I wasn't reading an article from The Onion. I think it would be funny in a sad way if people are actually good at reducing fractions but still get confused by 1/3 > 1/4 after they've simplified 3/9. Least it'll make good clickbait in the 2050's.
        floatingatoll 5y ago
        People aren’t necessarily good at reducing fractions, either, in case that’s of any comfort.
      - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        >a 1/4 lb burger What is a "lb burger"?
        tyingq 5y ago
        lb is a common abbreviation for "pound" (the weight measure, 16 ounces).
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        Damn, the US measurement system is complicated. In the metric system it's called a Royall :) Ok, I'll see myself out.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - anon878656 5y ago
      The mouseover/title text on that XKCD: How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!
- Aerroon 5y ago
  100/78 still doesn't give me an intuitive feeling that it'll be much different from 22%. I know it is, but I still can't easily say it's 28% based on intuition. I think a more important thing to do is to use the same baseline to compare to: "Linux vs Windows and Linux vs Windows" not "Linux vs Windows and Windows vs Linux".
  - hvdijk 5y ago
    We can tell that 100/78 is somewhere between 100/75 and 100/80, which we can do in our heads as somewhere between 1.33 and 1.25.
- iamcurious 5y ago
  Given the huge number of life changing decisions that involve the '%' symbol, this is great advice.
xbar 5y ago
No, that day will not come. Enjoy your precision and recognize that there ARE others like you. I choose to be disappointed by the "journalists" who do poorly by comparison. I know many who have different emotional responses than disappointment.
mkup 5y ago
Well, if someone starts to increase these people's salary by 10% at the morning, and then decrease their salary by 10% at the evening, on the same day, every day, then all these people are going to figure out the math pretty quickly I'm sure. :)

AnotherGoodName 5y ago

Blame the % symbol that hides the '/100' fraction. If anyone was asked the inverse of 78/100 they'd correctly say 100/78 everytime.

floatingatoll 5y ago
https://xkcd.com/2501/ https://xkcd.com/2501/ Fractions are badly understood by quite a lot of people [1], even for an operation as simple as "inverse", and especially if they had to learn one time that x^-1 = 1/x to pass a quiz. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28935891 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28935891
- human 5y ago
  We are talking about fractions, not crystaline structures. The problem is that people forget their high school math very quickly when they stop using it. Many of us keep using it everyday.
  - tyingq 5y ago
    The recent story about consumers perceiving a 1/3 lb burger to be smaller than a 1/4 lb burger suggests it's a lower level problem than remembering high school math :)
    - Nadya 5y ago
      Had to check the calendar for the year because that story is from the 80's and the articles that circulated and were popular were mostly written in 2014-2016 and cycle back around every few years because factoids that let people laugh at how dumb Americans are seem to be popular clickbait. Seems to be making the rounds again because A&W is taking the piss by rebranding their "1/3 burger" to a "3/9 Burger". I also had to double-check that I wasn't reading an article from The Onion. I think it would be funny in a sad way if people are actually good at reducing fractions but still get confused by 1/3 > 1/4 after they've simplified 3/9. Least it'll make good clickbait in the 2050's.
      - floatingatoll 5y ago
        People aren’t necessarily good at reducing fractions, either, in case that’s of any comfort.
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      >a 1/4 lb burger What is a "lb burger"?
      - tyingq 5y ago
        lb is a common abbreviation for "pound" (the weight measure, 16 ounces).
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        Damn, the US measurement system is complicated. In the metric system it's called a Royall :) Ok, I'll see myself out.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - anon878656 5y ago
    The mouseover/title text on that XKCD: How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!
Aerroon 5y ago
100/78 still doesn't give me an intuitive feeling that it'll be much different from 22%. I know it is, but I still can't easily say it's 28% based on intuition. I think a more important thing to do is to use the same baseline to compare to: "Linux vs Windows and Linux vs Windows" not "Linux vs Windows and Windows vs Linux".
- hvdijk 5y ago
  We can tell that 100/78 is somewhere between 100/75 and 100/80, which we can do in our heads as somewhere between 1.33 and 1.25.
iamcurious 5y ago
Given the huge number of life changing decisions that involve the '%' symbol, this is great advice.

xbar 5y ago

No, that day will not come. Enjoy your precision and recognize that there ARE others like you. I choose to be disappointed by the "journalists" who do poorly by comparison. I know many who have different emotional responses than disappointment.

mkup 5y ago

Well, if someone starts to increase these people's salary by 10% at the morning, and then decrease their salary by 10% at the evening, on the same day, every day, then all these people are going to figure out the math pretty quickly I'm sure. :)