Misleading: Sometimes numbers can be misleading. For example: If I was to state a claim by saying "Over 90% of people in the U.S. uses cell phones. And the other 10% uses pay phones." I then ask "Which one is clearly better?" What is misleading is what did the question mean by "better?" Some questions and claims can be vague or confusing. This is one aspect of numbers that we must know about.
Helpful: Numbers are helpful because it gives us an idea of what we are thinking about. For example: Let's say that my friend said "Many people bought my candy." He could have been more specific by saying "85% of the students bought my candy." By saying those figures of how many people bought his candy, it helped us have a clear picture of how many people really bought his candy.
Nice post. Numbers can be used for good or bad. It's kind of sad to see people using numbers to deceive others just to prove their own point (which may be false) or just to get what they want. Sometimes by playing up the numbers or playing them down can give a person what they want just by fudging the numbers.
ReplyDeleteI like this chapter because it is an eye-opener for all of us. This is great for the university student because it will help us become wiser just before we begin our new journey out in the real world. All of these GE courses may seem to be a bit much, but I am starting to see that SJSU has strategically placed them in our path so we can be knowledgeable members of society who can make critically thought out decisions.