Who Teaches Maths To Reporters?

It seems to me that lack of basic arithmetic skills is an increasing problem. I'd say its probably 200% worse than when it was only 10% as bad

As many know, my job is software developer (used to be called computer programmer in the olden days), and to get by, you need at least a basic grasp of mathematics sometimes. Nothing too intense, a mathematician will give us any formulae we might need for complex calculations, but just for common day to day stuff you need basic arithmetic, sometimes a bit of trigonometry and basic statistics etc.

Imagine my surprise then when I heard two of my younger team mates talking about rendering an arc on screen in a particular colour, when one of them said he'd asked his mathematician mate, who'd "said somet about signs, and pies".

 

I'd like to nail a reporter's feet to the floor! Must they always WALK while spouting off? In wet weather does it give any more credence to their report if they are standing in water? Do they jump into a fire when. . .

Cheers, Tony.

 

Perhaps somebody's taken the index for 2010 as - £56m and the index for 2011 as + £57.8m and calculated the % increase =(-56 to 57.8)/(minus missing)56*100, rather than re-setting that -56 to a base index of 1 (and adjusting subsequent indices accordingly)?