Here is a good solid reason to be Maths literate, to be able to understand basic numbers.
This video is regarding a report I blogged about previously: that 84% of child grooming gang members in the UK are Pakistani.
In the video, the man mentions "up to 87%" but that's not particularly relevant for this post.
The woman he's talking to says, "You can't just go around saying that it's Pakistani Muslims and no one else!" (Remember, Pakistan is a Muslim country.)
The man tries to tell the woman that a statistic of 87% clearly implies that it's NOT only Pakistanis who are doing it... that it leaves 13% for other people.
And here's the problem: people hear a statistic and assume it's 100%. This is because only one group has been labelled and therefore it sounds disproportionate.
This is why people get irate about "Tax cuts for the 1%". Why should all those rich people get a tax cut, as if it implies 'every person earning more than me, poor me'? It's talking about 1% of people, who probably earn more than the complainers ever will.
- No tax cuts for the 1% means the complainer's situation is unchanged.
- Tax cuts for the 1% means the complainer's situation is unchanged.
So what's the problem? Quite simply, the assumption that it refers to 'anyone earning more than me'.
Would you be shocked to hear that in schools across the country 50% of people are below average?
How could so many schools be failing the nation's children?!?!
Until you stop to actually think about that statistic.
This is why basic maths is so incredibly important. If you're not good at Maths, leave statistics well alone.
Or just avoid me. Because I will check out those stats.
(e.g. Snopes)
This video is regarding a report I blogged about previously: that 84% of child grooming gang members in the UK are Pakistani.
In the video, the man mentions "up to 87%" but that's not particularly relevant for this post.
The woman he's talking to says, "You can't just go around saying that it's Pakistani Muslims and no one else!" (Remember, Pakistan is a Muslim country.)
The man tries to tell the woman that a statistic of 87% clearly implies that it's NOT only Pakistanis who are doing it... that it leaves 13% for other people.
And here's the problem: people hear a statistic and assume it's 100%. This is because only one group has been labelled and therefore it sounds disproportionate.
This is why people get irate about "Tax cuts for the 1%". Why should all those rich people get a tax cut, as if it implies 'every person earning more than me, poor me'? It's talking about 1% of people, who probably earn more than the complainers ever will.
- No tax cuts for the 1% means the complainer's situation is unchanged.
- Tax cuts for the 1% means the complainer's situation is unchanged.
So what's the problem? Quite simply, the assumption that it refers to 'anyone earning more than me'.
Would you be shocked to hear that in schools across the country 50% of people are below average?
How could so many schools be failing the nation's children?!?!
Until you stop to actually think about that statistic.
This is why basic maths is so incredibly important. If you're not good at Maths, leave statistics well alone.
Or just avoid me. Because I will check out those stats.
(e.g. Snopes)
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