Math, headlines and you.

[kierthos]

This is something really irks me - Poor math in headlines.

This article's headline isn't the poor math. What was the poor math was the lead-in to the article (i.e. the hyperlink I clicked on to get to it).

"Median home prices fall in nearly 9 out of every 10 U.S. cities"

Does anyone besides me see that as being... well... wrong?

If you're strictly relying on integer comparisons, you can't have "nearly 9". It's either "9 out of 10" or "8 out of 10".

Obviously, I don't have enough to do at work, huh?

Comments

[jdack.livejournal.com]

That is not the sort of thing I would have noticed on my own, but now that you mention it, it is kind of annoying.

[copper-fingers.livejournal.com]

I suck at math so I never would have gotten it.
Maybe they should have said almost 90%?