# Media Innumeracy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 29, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322 "2010-11-29T20:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/1 "2010-11-29T20:31:11Z")
The [newly discovered Picasso artworks](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40415129) sure have a precise price: > [@](#): > > estimated to be worth at least $79.35 million, according to an administrator of the artist’s estate. Really, can’t you just say “about $80 million”. Later on it does say where that number comes from: > [@](#): > > estimated to be worth at least€60 million ($79.35 million) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/2 "2010-11-29T20:40:18Z")
I rate this pit thread at 9.47 on the suckitude scale. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/3 "2010-11-29T20:46:42Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I rate this pit thread at 9.47 on the suckitude scale. Only if you round up from 9.4643. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/4 "2010-11-29T20:54:44Z")
I could eat alphabet soup and _shit_ a better pitting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/5 "2010-11-29T21:00:33Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > I could eat alphabet soup and _shit_ a better pitting. 😃 That wasn’t alphabet soup - that was Spaghetti-O’s. That’s why it says “0.0000000000000000” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/6 "2010-11-29T21:08:48Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > That’s why it says “0.0000000000000000” Well, that could be equal to 1 for sufficiently large bowel movements. And I also don’t get the OP’s point. It’s like he displayed his own illiteracy while complaining about somebody’s innumeracy. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/7 "2010-11-29T21:12:00Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > That wasn’t alphabet soup - that was Spaghetti-O’s. > > That’s why it says “0.0000000000000000” The decimal is a piece of corn. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/8 "2010-11-29T21:19:10Z")
My newspaper had a little tear on the upper right corner today. I didn’t notice it at first, but when I did, I couldn’t focus on anything else. I tried to read the article about global warming, but my eyes kept wandering back to that tiny tear. That little rip in an otherwise pristine page. I wondered, how did that tear get there? Was the paper boy careless when he tossed the paper over the fence this morning. Did I, in my haste to grab it off the walkway, rip it unknowingly? Or did the damage occur earlier? Maybe at the newspaper deliver dock. I kept thinking about this on my drive to work. I tried to read my e-mail for the day, but I kept thinking about that tear. Rip, rip, rip. Where did it come from? Lunch time came, and Sue down the hall asked me if I wanted to grab a bite. Sue is pretty young thing, and we’ve been exchanging meaningful glances ever since she transferred to this office last week from headquarters. I almost said yes, but I couldn’t get my mind off that tear in the paper. No, I couldn’t do lunch today. Not until I had solved the mystery. I went back to my desk to ponder some more… ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/9 "2010-11-29T21:24:52Z")
Nah, I think I get it. By giving a value to 2 decimal points, the paper was implying a much more precise estimate than it actually was. “60 million Euros” has different implications than “$79.35 million”. It’s kind of like asking some farmer in France how far to Nice, and he says “120 kiliometers.” You turn to your wife and translate, “He said it’s 74.56 miles.” Not really the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/10 "2010-11-29T21:38:03Z")
Yeah, I get it. It’s a significant figures problem. That said, it’s extremely weak sauce… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/11 "2010-11-29T21:40:16Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Nah, I think I get it. By giving a value to 2 decimal points, the paper was implying a much more precise estimate than it actually was. “60 million Euros” has different implications than “$79.35 million”. It’s kind of like asking some farmer in France how far to Nice, and he says “120 kiliometers.” You turn to your wife and translate, “He said it’s 74.56 miles.” Not really the same thing. Right. And the widely-known “fact” that “normal” human body temperature is 98.6 degrees is another example of this kind of error. The original value was 37 degrees **Celsius** , rounded to the nearest whole degree. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/12 "2010-11-29T22:07:07Z")
Jeez, I thought the point was pretty obvious. Some art critic pulls a number out of his ass. Since he is British, he expresses it in some nice round figure of pounds. Now if he said it was 59.36 million pounds, that would imply that he actually has some real reason to be that precise; e.g., an 8x14" Picasso print goes for 1.7 million pounds, and there are 35 of them, yatta, yatta. But art work is not a commodity, and the actual value of the pieces could be all over the place, so it is just stupid to convert the round number of pounds to a precise number of dollars, especially when it is so friggin close to the nice round figure of $80 million dollars. It’s like the guard at the Museum of National History who says the dinosaur fossil is 12 million and 17 years old. How does he know that? “Because when I started work they told me it was 12 million years old and that was 17 years ago”. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/13 "2010-11-29T22:09:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Right. And the widely-known “fact” that “normal” human body temperature is 98.6 degrees is another example of this kind of error. The original value was 37 degrees **Celsius** , rounded to the nearest whole degree. Is that true? I heard that Farenheit measured it as 100 degrees, but the person who he measured had an abnormally high temperature. Is that just another lie I learned in high school? ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/14 "2010-11-29T22:10:44Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > . . . . But art work is not a commodity, . . . . You missed the 80s, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/15 "2010-11-29T22:11:57Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > You missed the 80s, didn’t you? The parts I forget I just ask Leary to fill in for me. ---
**Author:** ![padabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@padabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/padabe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/16 "2010-11-29T23:36:58Z")
You think that’s bad, I’ve got _books_ in which the author insists on listing the Euro equivalent to dollar amounts. Not technical, academic stuff, mind you, just schlocky bathroom reading. Not only are the conversions overly precise, they’re of course _outdated_ too. What’s the point? JUST PICK _ONE!_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/17 "2010-11-30T02:34:35Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > Is that true? I heard that Farenheit measured it as 100 degrees, but the person who he measured had an abnormally high temperature. Is that just another lie I learned in high school? See the Wikipedia article on [false precision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision), specifically the fourth bullet point under “examples.” There’s also this old thread: [Is normal body temperature really 98.6 degrees?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=196338) ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/18 "2010-11-30T06:11:50Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > See the Wikipedia article on [false precision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision), specifically the fourth bullet point under “examples.” > > There’s also this old thread: [Is normal body temperature really 98.6 degrees?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=196338) But [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit)Wiki article has a different story. > [@](#): > > The second point, 100 degrees, was the level of the liquid in the thermometer when held in the mouth or under the armpit of his wife — subsequent refinements. Fahrenheit noted that, using this scale, water boils at about 212 degrees. > Later, work by other scientists observed that water boils about 180 degrees higher than the freezing point and decided to redefine the degree slightly to make it exactly 180 degrees higher. It is for this reason that normal human body temperature is 98.6 on the revised scale (whereas it was 100 on Fahrenheit’s original scale). ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/19 "2010-11-30T12:12:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Right. And the widely-known “fact” that “normal” human body temperature is 98.6 degrees is another example of this kind of error. The original value was 37 degrees **Celsius** , rounded to the nearest whole degree. I’ve tried to tell people this & they don’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/media-innumeracy/562322/20 "2010-11-30T18:57:10Z")
One unusual counter-example of this phenomena is Mt Everest. When its height was first accurately measured it was found to be exactly 29000 feet high. But the surveyors didn’t want to use that figure because it would look like their measurement was only an approximation to the nearest thousand feet. So they reported it was 29002 feet high.