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    Why do people keep getting this wrong‽

    Stand-up Maths

    1 HN recommender · recommended in 4 months, 2020–2025

    YouTube

    12:49 · 2M views · Mar 24, 2020

    Matt Parker of Stand-up Maths explains why people keep making the same mistake with millions and billions, using a Bloomberg cash calculator example. He looks at the unit slip behind the repeated arithmetic error.

    HN links it to explain why people repeatedly get large-number arithmetic wrong in discussions of money and mental math.

    Mathematics & Theoretical CSRecreational & visual mathMath & theory (other)
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    4 comments from Hacker News

    1. @christiangencoFeb 2022· in “What use is mental math in 2022?”

      This mistake is so interesting to me. Here's a great explanation of what's probably happening: this video tl;dr: mentally we take off "millions" as a unit, do the calculation, then add "millions" back on. This works for addition, subtraction, and inequality but fails for multiplication and division.

      RecommendsView on HN
    2. @csoursJan 2025· in “Very Wrong Math”

      Reminds me of this classic: [LINK] “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over.” this video

      CitesView on HN
    3. @TRiG_IrelandOct 2023· in “Edinburgh couple are handed £17K bill by Tesla as they 'drove in rain'”

      I'm not sure that there's a name for that kind of maths error, but there is a reason why people keep making it, as Matt Parker discusses: this video .

      CitesView on HN
    4. @infogulchApr 2020· in “Fed should pay every American, let hedge funds and billionaires ‘get wiped out’”

      Matt Parker made a video that tries to explain how people keep getting this basic arithmetic completely wrong. this video

      CitesView on HN