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Percentages (mander.xyz)
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[-] BluesF@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Even more confusing when you hear that the odds of catching a disease have increased by a %. In many ways odds can be more intuitive, but we're so used to working with simple probability that it's a total nightmare to wrap your head around at first.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

In the same vein, if the volume on your phone is on 1, and you increase it to 2, it has increased by 100%

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Kinda. Logarithms are weird

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago
[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Why lying with maths is so easy, the average person, even in developed countries is practically innumerate (massive hyperbole, but the fact lying with numbers is easy, still stands)

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Convert percentage to fraction, i.e, 80% become 0.8 Then multiply with initial value

If it says 80% more use initial + (initial*80) or simply initial*1.8

Or if it says 80% less, use - in above calculation or multiply by 0.2

I find percentages more neat when used as fractional number Edited to escape the multiplication symbol

[-] lemonskate@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

It's really not even converting, as percent is literally "1/100" (per-cent = per 100). It's purely convenient shorthand.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, the math straight up works in the fractional form

[-] reddit_sux@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I said that to a friend of mine how to get percentage by creating fraction. They were flabbergasted at the sorcery.

The friend is a Doctrate of biological sciences and a professor. Where as I am just an engineer.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago

Convert percentage to fraction, i.e, 80% become 0.8

That's not a fraction.

⅘ is a fraction.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You know we say "a fraction of something" with a number(usually between 1 and zero) often denoted by letter epsilon. 4/5 equals 0.8 so there is nothing wrong in calling that a fraction too

Edit: Its called Decimal Fractions

[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

The different ways in which numbers slide up, down, sideways, diagonally.

Is the example in the post part of the fifth type of arithmetic?

  1. Addition +
  2. Subtraction -
  3. Multiplication x
  4. Division /
  5. Modulo %

The first time I learned about modulo as its' own branch of arithmetic was long out of school already, I had only hazily heard of it, on a PBS Nova documentary in the 1990s about Fermat's famous theorem and when it was proven after centuries of failed tries.

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No it's not modulo, it's how to talk about increasing a number by a percentage of the number.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah we just learned "by" was a standard term for multiplication. So increased by 80% was just 1.8 times whatever you started with. "Divide by" meaning multiply inversely

Language translating to artithmetic. I'm sure it doesn't always line up, as we change language quite often.

[-] Floey@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I think it's ambiguous and the 90% actually makes more sense. If you increase something by 5m you are taking the original value and adding 5m to it. For multiplication you should probably avoid the word increase and say scaled by instead. 10% scaled by 180% is 18%.

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this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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