Dilbert and statistics

[Markxxx]

In a Dilbert cartoon Alice (I think that is her name) says "Why do women make 25% less than men."
Wally says "Actually the article said women make 75 cents for every dollar a man makes. Men are ahead by 33%." the the punch goes "well I don't expect anyone to applaude my math skills now.

How is this 33% arrived at?

[zev_steinhardt]

Originally posted by Markxxx
In a Dilbert cartoon Alice (I think that is her name) says "Why do women make 25% less than men."
Wally says "Actually the article said women make 75 cents for every dollar a man makes. Men are ahead by 33%." the the punch goes "well I don't expect anyone to applaude my math skills now.

How is this 33% arrived at?



Simple. If person A earns 75 cents and person B earns a dollar, they are earning 33% more than person A (since the 25 cents is one third of 75).

Person A, however, is earning 25% less than person B (since the 25 cents is 25% of the dollar)

Zev Steinhardt

[Fear Itself]

If men make $100 and women make $75 for the same job:

Men make 33% more than women (100-75=25, 25=33% of $75)
Women make 25% less than men (100-25%=$75)

Both statements are correct.

[Monocracy]

A man makes 25 cents more than the women's 75 cents.
25/75 is 1/3 = 33%
Men make 33% more than women.

Another way to look at it: 75 * 1.33 = 100

Yet another way:
Women make 75% of what men make or 3/4.
The inverse of 3/4 is 4/3 = 1.33 = 33% more.

All decimals being rounded off to the nearest % point, of course.

[JimOfAllTrades]

Men are ahead by 25 cents. 25 Cents is approx 33% of 75 cents. The difference is in whether you are calculating margin or markup.

Markup is the amount by which a lower amount (usually your cost for an item) needs to be increased or "marked-up" to arrive at a higher amount (like a selling price). 75 cents needs to be marked-up by 33% to get to a buck.

Margin is the percentage of difference based on the higher amount. 25 cents is 25% of a dollar.

So if you sell something for a dollar that cost you 75 cents, you marked it up 33%, but your margin is only 25%. It all depends on how you look at it.

(Preview indicates a couple of other good answers already, but I'll toss this in anyway).

Ugly

[Derleth]

How many people didn't get that joke because finger math wouldn't be enough to figure out both statements were accurate?


Anyway, Dilbert is one of the few truly funny comics in the papers these days because its author does not share my cynical view of its readership. It puts out some jokes that actually work beyond the two-year-old level.