Nothing can be over 100pc less than anything
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
12 July 2015
If some one has
“three times more” than you have, how much do they have? Suppose I have
Sh100 and you claimed to have three times more than me, how much do you
have: is it Sh300 or Sh400?
The confusion arises
because of the word “more”. For, if you said you had Sh50 more than me,
it would be clear to anyone that you have Sh150. Similarly, if you said
you have three times what I have (leaving out the word “more”), there is
no doubt that you have Sh300.
The word “more” means
to add while “times” means to multiply. So when you say “three times
more” you mean “multiply by three and then add”. In that case, three
times more than Sh100 becomes Sh400.
If you that was
confusing, then how would you interpret “three times less” or “three
times fewer”?
If I have Sh300 and
you claimed to have Sh100 less, this is how I would work it out: “less”
means subtract, so Sh300 – Sh100 = Sh200. That is, you have Sh200.
Along the same lines,
if you claimed to have three times less me, then I would calculate it in
two stages. First I would do the multiplication (“times”): Sh300 x 3 =
Sh900. Then I would follow it with the subtraction (“less”): Sh300 –
Sh900 = -Sh600. That is, a negative quantity!
But what does a
negative amount of money mean? Well, I can only interpret it to mean
that you owe the money to some one else. You actually don’t have it your
pocket!
I think the phrase
“three times less” is intended to be understood as “one third of”. That
is, I have Sh300 and you have Sh100 – one third of what I have. But why
not say that? I suspect that such phrases are used in order to give the
statement greater impact, or perhaps in an attempt to sound
sophisticated.
However, it is
difficult to understand why, if I had Sh300 and you had Sh150, you would
never claim to have two times less than me! You would simply say “half
as much”. It follows then that if I have Sh300 and you have Sh100, you
should say that you have one third as much as I do.
Things get even more
confusing when people claim that they have 300 per cent less. Now if I
have Sh300 and you had 10 per cent less, you would have Sh30 less than
me, that is, Sh270.
By the same logic,
300 per cent of Sh300 is Sh900. So, 300 per cent less means you have
Sh900 less than my Sh300. That is Sh300 – Sh900 = -Sh600: Another
negative result!
The important lesson
from all this is that nothing can be over 100 per cent less than
anything. This is the sort of thing that my math teacher used to call
“complete, utter, absolute, diabolical nonsense!”
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