Author Topic: Arithmetic that makes you cringe  (Read 77836 times)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« on: 01 August, 2014, 03:53:23 pm »
I do wish the journos reporting this tragic story could count!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28611078

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #1 on: 01 August, 2014, 04:08:29 pm »
They can - they have rounded down to whole years. It wasn't 13 years
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #2 on: 01 August, 2014, 05:11:45 pm »
They appear to have edited the wording from 'ago' to 'later'...

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #3 on: 02 August, 2014, 09:20:06 am »
From an official document published by a large manufacturing company, later revised when I told them about it:-

0.01% failure rate (1000 ppm)

Quote from: Kim
Paging Diver300.  Diver300 to the GSM Trimphone, please...

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #4 on: 08 August, 2014, 09:42:31 pm »
I think it might have been mentioned in another thread at the time but there was a Co-op ad recently that claimed a bank holiday weekend was a third longer than a regular weekend.

:facepalm:
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #5 on: 09 August, 2014, 08:30:19 am »
Well it is a third day longer..
Move Faster and Bake Things

Andrij

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Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #6 on: 11 August, 2014, 09:33:01 pm »
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #7 on: 11 August, 2014, 09:43:00 pm »
So? There are many places that sell coffee but do not have a store.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #8 on: 28 August, 2014, 10:49:50 am »
Quote
A surge in immigration from within the European Union (EU) was behind the increase as two-thirds of all immigrants to the UK in the period - 214,000 out of 560,000 - came from within the EU.
From today's Telegraph. Just as likely to be cringeworthy editing/proofreading probably, but still...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #9 on: 28 August, 2014, 12:56:10 pm »
My company forgot last years promised 6% pay rise so I grumbled. So they said this year they would pay me 6% and 4% = 10% this year. Surely 10% is 6% and 3.77%.

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #10 on: 28 August, 2014, 01:45:48 pm »
Recently decided to purchase a Jawbone UP24 to do a bit of quantified self-ing (mostly interested in the sleep monitoring / reporting) having got some Love2Shop vouchers to use up.

I then spotted I could order it in to my local Halfords, which meant I could also use my British Cycling discount. Every little helps etc..

List price of £104.99, the girls on the till between them decide to not simply scan in the barcode for the BC discount but enter it manually. I quote: 'So, ten percent of that. That's...twelve pound fifty'.

Nice little bonus for me, just disappointing when it's one of those simple ones to calculate!
One Man and LEJOG : End-to-End on Two Wheels in Two Weeks (Buy the book; or Kindle it)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #11 on: 28 July, 2016, 05:42:27 pm »
From today's Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-police-shooting-statistics-discharge-firearms-figures-freddie-gray-baton-killings-homicide-a7160391.html

British Police fire guns 7 times in one year.
British population 64M
USA population 319M
Quote
The United States of course has a bigger population than the UK – Britain has 64.1 million residents, the US 319 million. But on a per-capita basis, Britain’s rate of police gun use would translate into US police using their guns on 84 occasions in an entire year. This would be an unthinkably low number.

How does 7 * 5 = 84?

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #12 on: 28 July, 2016, 06:46:50 pm »
My company forgot last years promised 6% pay rise so I grumbled. So they said this year they would pay me 6% and 4% = 10% this year. Surely 10% is 6% and 3.77%.
Not necessarily. Depends on how they calculate it. 6% of your salary plus 4% of your pay before the 6% raise is 10%.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #13 on: 28 July, 2016, 07:59:40 pm »
Almost any advertisement claiming a discount...

"Everything up to 50% off!!!"

 ::-)
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #14 on: 28 July, 2016, 08:03:20 pm »
Not quite arithmetic, but "it's Thursday, welcome to the start of finals week on masterchef"

Surely midway through finals week?
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #15 on: 29 July, 2016, 10:10:46 am »
The start of a maths lesson, 197{ahem!}; a maths teacher flinging marked homework jotters at pupils.  He arrives at that belonging to a Boy Lurker...

 Boy Lurker!  3 times 3?
 Boy Lurker, rapidly and confidently, six sir.
 *A moment's silence for the awful truth to sink in.*
A pitying look from the maths teacher as the Boy Lurker cringes at his desk whilst his school-fellows pour (well deserved) scorn and derision upon him.

I had made _exactly_ the same error in the homework, I'd done all the hard stuff (chiz algebra) perfectly but stuffed up basic arithmetic.  Over the years MrsLurker has come to recognise that my arithmetic is a little, umm, fuzzy and does our accounts.  It's probably for the best. :)
 
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #16 on: 29 July, 2016, 05:53:42 pm »
Almost any advertisement claiming a discount...

"Everything up to 50% off!!!"

 ::-)
Even worse (for the customer), something like 'up to -25% discount'. Seen it only once and decided to pass on by.
Local shoe shop offered BOGOF - um?
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #17 on: 29 July, 2016, 07:03:25 pm »
Free left with every right!
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Kim

  • Timelord
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Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #18 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:08:06 pm »
I've seen BOGOF on eyebrow threading, which makes even less sense than shoes.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #19 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:15:26 pm »
Surely BOGOF on shoes, eyebrows and any other obviously pairs are simply an attempt at humour.  I remember the surgeon trying to make the same joke DURING my vasectomy years ago.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #20 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:17:23 pm »
Surely BOGOF on shoes, eyebrows and any other obviously pairs are simply an attempt at humour.  I remember the surgeon trying to make the same joke DURING my vasectomy years ago.

To be fair, you don't want actually funny jokes during a vasectomy...

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #21 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:27:21 pm »
Good point.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #22 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:37:43 pm »
No, TV's Henry Coles, a motorcycle introduced in 1958 is 58 years old.  That, by any stretch of the imagination, is not "nearly 70".
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Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #23 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:38:00 pm »
Mrs F was never that much into Numbers and all.
She had to do a Tax module at Law School back in the day.

I remember trying to help out with the basic problem:

If something costs £100, and we add 10% tax, it then costs £110. That's fine.
But why can't I just remove the tax element by removing 10% of the £110?

She's still not convinced about the arithmetic, and suspects alien involvement.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Arithmetic that makes you cringe
« Reply #24 on: 29 July, 2016, 08:52:31 pm »
No, TV's Henry Coles, a motorcycle introduced in 1958 is 58 years old.  That, by any stretch of the imagination, is not "nearly 70".

I too am that age and of that vintage.

I am CERTAINLY NOT 'nearly 70'!