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oh good lord

TJ for maths people:

if 58% of people read a newspaper in 1994
and only 34% of people read a newspaper in 2008

what is the decline (as a percentage) - my brain says 24% but I bet it isn't

(I last did maths in 1988)

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Mighty Nibus who dares gins | @nibus, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:54, archived)

Lobster over Wednesday multiplied by Green.

Take the remainder, multiply the second and invert the answer to get the full, "freshly-washed stoat" feel.

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Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:55, archived)

this is for a high-level presentation

I don't think they want anything about stoats

I'll put a weasel in

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Mighty Nibus who dares gins | @nibus, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:58, archived)

This diagram should help:

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Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:58, archived)

ooh

I think stoat will go down better then

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Mighty Nibus who dares gins | @nibus, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:00, archived)

And you can tell just by looking that that stoat is freshly washed.

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Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:09, archived)

I say! :O

Have this pea

(AceFox may contain traces of nut..., Fri 9 Apr 2010, 15:55, archived)

41.4 percent decline

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:56, archived)

correct

although only about 64% of those who read newspapers in 1994 are still reading newspapers in 2008

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:56, archived)

Hmmm..

Im guessing perhaps the decline would instead be what percentage of the people who read papers stopped reading them.. so you would need to consider the drop there not just the difference between the two numbers. Don't make me work it out please :P

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w00tAlohrs Où peux-je cacher ces noix de coco?, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:57, archived)

58/100 = 0.58

34/0.58 = 58.6206896551724137931034483 (confusingly)
100 - 58.6206896551724137931034483 = 41.3793103448275862068965517, so I guess that's the decline as a percentage.

(_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:57, archived)

that's what I said, although I rounded up to 41.4

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 12:59, archived)

Yeah but you didn't show your working

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The Coast Of Yemen, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:00, archived)

And I provided my doings.

No wate what's the word ... workings.

(_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:00, archived)

Well I'm autistic, I have no idea how I got the answer - I just did.

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:05, archived)

oo ta

and thanks monge

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Mighty Nibus who dares gins | @nibus, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:05, archived)

you're welcome, but I can imagine why you might not have trusted the answer without the doings

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:07, archived)

no but the question

states 58% and 34% of people - if there are 100 people, 58 of 100 read in 1994 and 34 of 100 in 2008 meaning a drop of 24% - whatever the value is for people is 100%, and the percentage decline relates to this value

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:09, archived)

wrong

there is a decline of readership of 41.4%
24% less of the population now read a paper

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:14, archived)

the question doesn't state whether its readership or population

just asks for the decline, so both are right

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:16, archived)

Mighty Nibus asked for the decline.

And clearly demonstrated the ability to subtract 34 from 58, so I'm pretty sure the answer to his question is 41.4%.
If it's for a presentation, he probably shouldn't say 'it is both 41.4 AND 24 percent'.

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:21, archived)

so because he got 24%

the answer must be 41.4%? Nibus I think he's calling you thick

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:26, archived)

okay, let's split the difference - the answer is 32.7%

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:36, archived)

I can't decide

if you know I'm being silly or if you're getting wound up

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:40, archived)

I can't decide if you think 32.7 was a serious sugestion :)

edit for clarity: no, I wasn't taking it seriously - I'm glad I correctly assumed that you weren't either.
Nibus clearly lost interest some time ago...

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:41, archived)

Yep, that could be right too

sometimes I see BBC news articles treat a percentage drop in this way and I get confused, but they're an official national institution and hardly ever make lots of typos so it must be a valid way to do it.

(_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:15, archived)

the percentage decline is the percentage decline of the percentages.

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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:15, archived)

if Percentage Decline is the name of a mathematical rule

then it should have captials, and not be written in lower case where it could be misinterpreted and generalised
I stopped doing Maths after GCSE, but I have an English degree so I'm now attempting to baffle you mathematicians with linguistics

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twig Save 6 Music, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:25, archived)

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4Q just lurking, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:32, archived)

percentages of percentages

there could be MORE people reading the newspaper, if the population has increased enough

percentages of percentages are always a bit meaningless

(Darth Vodka, Fri 9 Apr 2010, 13:54, archived)