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Numbers in the News

Interesting and misleading uses of numbers in news and advertising

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"Exponentially"" actually means something, you know

From an article in today's New York Times about irregularities in the voting for American Idol:


Representatives of AT&T helped fans of Mr. Allen at the two Arkansas events by providing instructions on how to send 10 or more text messages at the press of a single button, known as power texts. Power texts have an exponentially greater effect on voting than do single text messages or calls to the show’s toll-free phone lines.


No, multiplying by 10 is not an exponential operation...
Posted by Jessica at 8:08 AM No comments:
Labels: exponential, linear
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