Re: OT "x times cheaper", was: Re: Server hardware advice.
On Sat 10 Aug 2019 at 21:19:31 (+1200), Richard Hector wrote:
> On 10/08/19 9:10 PM, deloptes wrote:
> > Richard Hector wrote:
> >
> >> <rant>
> >> Sorry, this usage grates with me.
> >>
> >> $amount cheaper that $price means subtract $amount from $price
> >>
> >> $x times $price means multiply $price by $x
> >>
> >> so "2 times cheaper (than $450)" is:
> >>
> >> $450 - (2 x $450) = -$450.
> >
> > so what multiplied by 2 gives 450?
> >
> > 450 is 100% or 1
> > 225 is 50% or 1/2
>
> Right, so 225 is 50% cheaper, or half cheaper. Not twice cheaper.
>
> > perhaps this is the confusion, cause we are using daily language to refer to
> > maths.
>
> Daily language is the problem, yes. I'm not saying my fight is an easy
> one :-)
>
> > In fact I would do it the other way around.
> >
> > initial price x
> > 1xtime x+(1*x)
> > 2xtimes x+(2*x)
> >
> > this gives x=150
>
> 450 is two times more expensive than 150 (or 200% more than), or three
> times as expensive as 150 (or 300% as expensive).
> 300 is two times as expensive as 150, or 100% more expensive than 150
>
> We know that these don't work symmetrically; if you have a 50% discount,
> you can't get the original price back by adding 50%, because it's 50% of
> a different number.
"Expensive" is a dimensional term, like length and time. "Cheap" is in
a different category, like shortness. A 6-inch nail is twice as long
as a 3-inch nail, but one doesn't say the latter is twice as short.
But if someone asked for a nail twice as short as this (holding up a
6-inch nail), you might assume they were a non-native speaker of
English, or you might notice you're almost twice as tall as they are:
ie it's a child. (And it would be polite to offer them a 3-inch
nail. Learning all the categories takes time, and some people might
have slightly different boundaries.)
It's pretty obvious that Reco's meaning for cheapness was meant to be
understood as a reciprocal cost and not as a discount. It might be a
legitimate idiom in some parts; who knows.
One hears stories of pedants insisting they be paid to carry goods out
of the shop because they were labelled "10x cheaper". No way José.
Cheers,
David.
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