From the "math is hard" department

[ChrisSmolinski]

Police in San Luis, Arizona arrested three students Wednesday at summer school for allegedly having more than 3,000 potentially deadly pills.

Santana said each pill costs $15 on the black market so the school bust is worth more than $30 million on the street.

"You're looking at about 3200 plus m30 pills that were in her possession," Santana said.

https://news4sanantonio.com/news/nation-world/teens-arrested-for-fentanyl-stash-at-school-worth-more-than-30-million

[Treehouse SWL]

D'oh! Fake math!

When I was a newspaper reporter and editor, most reporters didn't check their math, especially if a figure was given to them by an official source. That's probably more true now, given that there are few reporters trying to cover more news than ever.

I was considered "good at math" for a writer, which meant I could easily figure out percentage changes and other relevant figures. Like most journalists (now a recovering journalist who's in corporate communications), however, I'm pretty lousy overall at anything beyond basic math.

[Josh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSTct2FFamw

theyre just building empire

[Ct Yankee]

Recently I responded to a YL columnist and her editor about her math.  She was throwing a hissy-fit over Alabama abortion laws. She, and I paraphrase, stated "... what do you expect from a state with 4 million people incarcerated?  That's 8 times the population of Rhode Island."  Realizing the sheer stupidity of such a number, I looked it up - Alabama has about 57,000 in jail.  The columnist couldn't claim it was a typo because of the Rhode Island comparison.  Shortly after my email, the column was yanked off line, never to be seen again.  Although, a correction was printed in the newspaper.

My favorite math problem for the math is TOO HARD group:

                                                         x=y
                                                 x(squared)=xy
                                    x(squared)-y(squared)=xy-y(squared)
                                      (x+y) (x-y) =y (x-y)
(Since we started with x=y, then x+y=2y)   2y=y. (divide both sides by Y)
                                                Thus, 2=1.     

[ChrisSmolinski]

Recently I responded to a YL columnist and her editor about her meth.  Throwing a hissy-fit over Alabama abortion laws she, and I paraphrase, stated "... what do you expect from a state with 4 million people incarcerated?  That's 8 times the population of Rhode Island."  Realizing the sheer stupidity os such a number, I looked it up - Alabama has about 57,000 in jail.  The columnist couldn't claim it was a typo because of the Rhode Island comparison.  Shortly after my email, the column was yanked off line, never to be seen again.

When I see numbers in an article, I often ask myself, are these numbers even plausible?   Obviously in the case you gave... they are not. There's quite a few bogus statistics out there, and once a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as fact.

[jta]

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "There's lies, damned lies, and statistics."

The trouble with statistics is that you can make them say anything...

[JimIO]

   https://youtu.be/piEl-dHGuRk

[ChrisSmolinski]

This Hurricane? https://www.nj.com/opinion/2014/04/spare_us_the_lies_about_the_late_hurricane_carter_mulshine.html

p.s. I thought Lex had addressed this a few years ago https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,7529.msg19667.html#msg19667

[Skipmuck]

My favorite math problem for the math is TOO HARD group:

                                                         x=y
                                                 x(squared)=xy
                                    x(squared)-y(squared)=xy-y(squared)
                                      (x+y) (x-y) =y (x-y)
(Since we started with x=y, then x+y=2y)   2y=y. (divide both sides by Y)
                                                Thus, 2=1.     

In the 4th line where you divide both sides by (x-y), you run into s slight problem. If x = y, then (x-y) = 0. Dividing by zero will get you into trouble everytime!

[JimIO]

I'm sure there is a similar Opinion Story out there about the Central Park Five.

[Ct Yankee]

You win skippy!