Idly wondering how many of the #MAGA crowd are thinking: “Sure, the #stockmarket went down 10%, but now it’s up 10%, so we’re even!” #innumeracy
#Innumeracy
Patient zero may have been this #Reuters piece by #MaggieFick
The URL suggests the title was altered afterwards.
Some media echoed the falsehood mentioning it came via Reuters; #TheGuardian only says "agencies"; #DemocracyNow omits the (probable) intermediary altogether.
#OuestFrance "with #AFP" mixes right and wrong numbers.
#TheGuardian is knowingly keeping this falsehood online. ☝️
#Gaza #FactChecking #Innumeracy #DisInformation #FakeNews #Hasbara #journalisticMalpractice
Journalistic innumeracy or conscious spinning?
1. A Lancet study estimates the death toll by traumatic injuries in Gaza at 170% the official numbers.
2. The Guardian titles… "40% higher", and then jumps, before reaching a third of the article, to the reaction of some Israeli official.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02678-3/fulltext
Someone should have used Julia with Unitful.jl
As someone who is scrupulous about getting stats right, this is SHOCKING. With this general #innumeracy, analysis is impossible. It's not about prejudice either.
today.yougov.com/politics/art...
cc: @kamilkazani.org @terikanefield.bsky.social @kmpanthagani.bsky.social @absurdistwords.bsky.social
From millionaires to Muslims...
Just opened a Newsweek article about a poll and read: "The majority of those asked, 38%, said that..."
#innumeracy #stupidity #theStupidItBurns
@ColinTheMathmo Re: (in)numeracy and leaders:
Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists
N. J. Enfield, Mar 23, 2022, MIT PRESS 2022
Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is primarily for social coordination, not precisely transferring thoughts from one person to another. Drawing on empirical research, Enfield shows that human lexicons the world over are far more coarse-grained than our perceptual faculties. Yet, at the same time, languages vary in the structure and sophistication of their representations. This means that, for instance, how different languages carve up the world influences not only how their speakers talk about the world, but also how they think about it. The book explores a range of linguistic phenomena, from lexical diversity to linguistic framing to the effects of narrative. As a result of understanding how language shapes our understanding of reality, Enfield argues that we can make more informed—and more ethical—decisions about our own language use, as individuals and communities.*
On the New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/language-vs-reality
Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBN2798566261.mp3 (MP3)
Enfield's key point is that language is useful for social coordination. Numbers ... for quantification.
Also: A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
(In numerous variations, more likely Beilby Porteus circa 1759 than Joseph Stalin. See: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/21/death-statistic/.)
Referring to your sadly languishing HN submission here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41228696
#Numeracy #Innumeracy #HackerNews #NewBooksNetwork #NickJEnfield #Language
@mrsbeanbag @georgetakei Somewhat related:
A&W's 1/3 pounder failed, even though it offered more meat for the same price as McDonald's' Quarter Pounder, because people saw the fractions 1/3 and 1/4 and thought they were getting a worse deal -- 3 is less than 4.
They bounced back with the 3/9 lb. burger. "If sold out, a 2/6 lb. Burger can be specially made at no extra charge."
Mathematically illiterate elevators
This elevator in a building of the Flemish government has difficulties dealing with floor number "-0", but no problem at all with floor number "0" (ground floor).
That's really ... something. Definitely something. Have you considered sending it to John Allen Paulos?
2/2
What does the percentage of Black people in Ohio have to do with how often dogs are used in attacks on Black people? Nothing, is the answer. If Black people were 1% of the state's population, it would still be wrong for dogs to be set on them for traffic offenses (as is documented in the story).
1/2
AP: innumerate about statistics.
"Records reviewed by the AP in 2018 showed the Ohio State Highway Patrol used drug dogs in 28% of its stops involving Black motorists from 2013 through 2017, although the Black population accounts for only about 11.5% of people old enough to have a driver’s permit or license in the state."
Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦 boosted:
Why you should ignore news stories touting (or flogging) the latest political poll.
#politics #PublicOpinion #innumeracy #StakesNotOdds #MediaCriticism
#Journalism
https://themoderatevoice.com/nine-reasons-you-should-ignore-political-polls/
Why you should ignore news stories touting (or flogging) the latest political poll.
#politics #PublicOpinion #innumeracy #StakesNotOdds #MediaCriticism
#Journalism
https://themoderatevoice.com/nine-reasons-you-should-ignore-political-polls/
#MindBlown time: reportedly, today's #Yoof shun #CreditCards out of fear of going in to debt, while happily buying everything on retail "pay later" credit (#BNPL) that costs a lot more. #Innumeracy in action?
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2023/01/buy-now-pay-later-affirm-afterpay-credit-card-debt/672686/
recent example
in fr24.com app on iOS, if the third digit in the latitude or longitude is 0, it shows two digits
@conradhackett
When we speak of #innumeracy in #AmericanEducation, we often speak of the inability of citizens to read a graph. It's math illiteracy.
As a retired math educator, I'm calling the #USHeathcareSystem expense v outcome debacle as an example of citizen innumeracy.
I'm glad to report that it is generational, and that younger folk can read this graph.
#UniversalHealthcare
This person’s math — “With the $44 billion he spent on Twitter, Elon could give each of the 8 billion people on Earth $5 billion and still have money left over” — might be off. Just sayin’.
I even checked with LITERAL back-of-the-napkin math.
https://www.joeydevilla.com/2022/11/18/your-math-might-be-a-little-off-dude/
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