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What thing are you exponentially more experienced in than the average person? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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What is the best skill you possess that makes you stand above the average person?

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[โ€“] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

My pet peeve with mathy stuff, "something is X times closer/smaller etc than something else"

If A is 1 away, saying B is ten times closer means what exactly? Is B 10 away? 9, 0.1?
I think what most examples are trying to say is that A is ten times the distance to B, but the way it is said if just annoying.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    "Ten times closer" is pretty unambiguously 0.1. What starts getting more confusing is "300% further" which is technically 4 but many understand as 3 (try replacing by 50%, 50% further is 1.5 not 0.5). Also "50% closer" being the same as twice closer while 50% further is only 1.5x further can get confusing too, and it gets even worse with "50% slower" - is speed now 1/1.5 (= it takes 50% more time) or 0.5/1 (= speed is reduced by 50%) ?

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