Guys, I am greatly disturbed by the language of Australia reporters that I want you guys to comment on this problem that I see all the time on newspapers. It seems to suggest that many reporters don't know how to do basic calculations like multiplication, division and fractions.
When they report something like this how do you understand it?
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The statistics of fatal accidents has sky-rocketed to 4 times more than 3 years ago.
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Blame their english or blame their math?
I can under stand this in 2 ways
1/ Often when they supplied numbers, I could see that they mean to say "the number of accidents is currently 4 times what it was 3 years ago".
2/ But the statement must be understood mathematically as "It is 5 times of what it was 3 years ago". (5-1) = 4. And 4/1 = 4 times. This is because of they use "more than".
In the case the number of accidents is the same as 3 years ago, their reasoning as (1) above would lead to "1 time more than 3 years ago" which is really non-sense!
Now let's look at the reverse of it, it is even more stupid.
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The diameter of the particle is 20 times smaller than that of a human hair.
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How are you going to understand this? There seems to be a mix of laziness and confusion here.
They seem to mean "The diameter of the particle is 1/20 of the diameter of the average human hair strand."
If the diameter of the hair strand is 20 units (of something), I honestly have no idea how to calculate the diameter of this particle when I read the above sentence. If they mean (1), then it's easy. 20/20 = 1 unit
I check in some other languages, people always say it so clearly such as "The diameter of the particle is one out of 20 of the diameter of a hair strand" or "The diameter of the particle is one twentieth of the diameter of a hair strand"
What do you think? These reporters are stupid or they are speaking a new kind of English?
Or perhaps English has been bastardised by reporters who are hopeless at mathematics?
When they report something like this how do you understand it?
---
The statistics of fatal accidents has sky-rocketed to 4 times more than 3 years ago.
---
Blame their english or blame their math?
I can under stand this in 2 ways
1/ Often when they supplied numbers, I could see that they mean to say "the number of accidents is currently 4 times what it was 3 years ago".
2/ But the statement must be understood mathematically as "It is 5 times of what it was 3 years ago". (5-1) = 4. And 4/1 = 4 times. This is because of they use "more than".
In the case the number of accidents is the same as 3 years ago, their reasoning as (1) above would lead to "1 time more than 3 years ago" which is really non-sense!
Now let's look at the reverse of it, it is even more stupid.
---
The diameter of the particle is 20 times smaller than that of a human hair.
---
How are you going to understand this? There seems to be a mix of laziness and confusion here.
They seem to mean "The diameter of the particle is 1/20 of the diameter of the average human hair strand."
If the diameter of the hair strand is 20 units (of something), I honestly have no idea how to calculate the diameter of this particle when I read the above sentence. If they mean (1), then it's easy. 20/20 = 1 unit
I check in some other languages, people always say it so clearly such as "The diameter of the particle is one out of 20 of the diameter of a hair strand" or "The diameter of the particle is one twentieth of the diameter of a hair strand"
What do you think? These reporters are stupid or they are speaking a new kind of English?
Or perhaps English has been bastardised by reporters who are hopeless at mathematics?
