Thursday, 22 March 2007 09:01 am
(no subject)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deckardcanineFrom the Express:
"24: The percentage that sexual assaults have increased in the military, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday. Nearly 3,000 attacks were reported in the military last year, compared with 2,400 in 2005."
I calculate that (3000 - 2400)/3000 = 600/3000 = 1/5 = 20%. And the exact percentage should be less than that.
I have to be fairly forgiving for errors in newspapers, considering how quickly those things get churned out. But when the error is in simple arithmetic, I shake my head.
Then I realize that what the statistics represent is still more deserving of a head shake.
"24: The percentage that sexual assaults have increased in the military, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday. Nearly 3,000 attacks were reported in the military last year, compared with 2,400 in 2005."
I calculate that (3000 - 2400)/3000 = 600/3000 = 1/5 = 20%. And the exact percentage should be less than that.
I have to be fairly forgiving for errors in newspapers, considering how quickly those things get churned out. But when the error is in simple arithmetic, I shake my head.
Then I realize that what the statistics represent is still more deserving of a head shake.