Anchor Steam beer has an alcohol content of 4.9%. Anchor Liberty Ale has an alcohol content of 6.0%.
So which is the proper convention?
The alcohol content of Anchor Liberty Ale is 1.1% higher than Anchor Steam beer.
The alcohol content of Anchor Liberty Ale is 22.4% higher than Anchor Steam beer.
Change No. 1 to —
The alcohol content of Anchor Liberty Ale is 1.1 percentage points higher than that of Anchor Steam beer.
– and then they’ll both be correct.
I’ve always used #1. #2 would sound confusing to me, at least. Even though the math works out, it’s counterintuitive.
Counterintuitive? We’ll I’m blowed.
#2 is correct. #1 is wrong. You can also state that it’s 110 basis points or 110 bps above the other.
So which tastes better? Is less filling?
AFAIK either would technically be ambiguous without specifying percentage of what. But I think everyone understand the former not the latter, since percentages are normally of the entire drink.
(According to usual percentage rules, I don’t know if there’s anything special about alcohol.)
But I can’t think of a perfect way of phrasing them. Anyone?
Sounds good, but is percentage points a standard convention?
Yes, it is the exact correct terminology for this and for all other uses of percentages.
For example, if the percentage of people approving George Bush’s foreign policy went from 50% to 54% that would be a 4 percentage point increase (or an 8% total increase). You might see it sometimes shortered to just “4 points”, with percentage assumed from context.
Does Anchor actually print the alcohol content on their labels? If so, isn’t that quite rare?