Does the following make sense to you:

[sophiecentaur]

There isn't an understandable way if you chuck away too much information. You HAVE to do more than giving a single figure if you want your statement to make sense. Which would you rather have - air or water? You need both of them.
You ask too much, I think.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I could point out how little use the value of the Mean of a distribution is, without some indication of the range, too. Your example is along exactly the same lines.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

There isn't an understandable way if you chuck away too much information. You HAVE to do more than giving a single figure if you want your statement to make sense. Which would you rather have - air or water? You need both of them.
You ask too much, I think.

How would the specific size of the work force (i.e. the total) be relevant to the question...

"does expressing the reduction, as a percent of the total"

 

[NotAnEngineer]

I could point out how little use the value of the Mean of a distribution is, without some indication of the range, too. Your example is along exactly the same lines.

Hardly.

My example would revolve around the relation of the means of distribution, to the range, and would be completely independent on the value of the range.

Again, you're over complicating the issue.

 

[sophiecentaur]

If you want to give a single figure then, in most contexts, you may as well give them your shoe size. (That is, if they don't already have a load of side information that you're not telling us about)
Are you paying '£100 per character' for publishing this information? Do you want to make sense or 'get away' with giving minimal information?
Have you ever studied statistics in any form or had to present data in practice? Look at the way data is presented in scientific journals and elsewhere. If you read just a single figure then someone may be trying to hide something.
Is a 10% change in your body temperature more or less significant than a 10% change in your salary? Of course range is vital for many statistics.

I don't think anyone is likely to give you a 'one of three' answer, which is what you seem to want. Certainly not me.

PS "Means of distribution" is not the same as "Mean of a distribution". Karl Marx would turn in his grave.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

If you want to give a single figure then, in most contexts, you may as well give them your shoe size. (That is, if they don't already have a load of side information that you're not telling us about)
Are you paying '£100 per character' for publishing this information? Do you want to make sense or 'get away' with giving minimal information?
Have you ever studied statistics in any form or had to present data in practice? Look at the way data is presented in scientific journals and elsewhere. If you read just a single figure then someone may be trying to hide something.
Is a 10% change in your body temperature more or less significant than a 10% change in your salary? Of course range is vital for many statistics.

I don't think anyone is likely to give you a 'one of three' answer, which is what you seem to want. Certainly not me.

PS "Means of distribution" is not the same as "Mean of a distribution". Karl Marx would turn in his grave.

I think it is safe to say that this question is simply too simple for you to understand.

Again, values are completely irrelevant. This is a general question about expressing the relationship in an understandable way.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

Okay how about this.

If I were to say..

6.9%-6.1% = a decline of 0.8%


Would you have a problem with that??

Again, it could be a decline of 0.8% of the total
It could be 0.8pp
or it could be an 11.6% reduction.



How do you guys see it?

 

[markymark69]

Not sure how you could calculate a decline of .8%

 

[sophiecentaur]

I understand that you want something that isn't possible. Otherwise, why haven't you received an answer from someone else of the form that you want?

When they want to talk about changes in percentages in the context of money - interest etc. the use of pp is fairly common BUT is is a snare and delusion because it's not fully appreciated. When the mortgage interest rate goes up from 2% to 4% they try to say the interest has only gone up by 2%. Oh yes - tell that to someone who is paying £400 per month and it goes up to £800. That's an increase of 100% in any other world than banking.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

I understand that you want something that isn't possible. Otherwise, why haven't you received an answer from someone else of the form that you want?

Um, did you miss the very first response in the thread??

A simple yes, or no is all you need to say. Asking a bunch of irrelevant questions such as what are the specific values, in a question where they don't matter is well, irrelevant.

When they want to talk about changes in percentages in the context of money - interest etc. the use of pp is fairly common BUT is is a snare and delusion because it's not fully appreciated. When the mortgage interest rate goes up from 2% to 4% they try to say the interest has only gone up by 2%. Oh yes - tell that to someone who is paying £400 per month and it goes up to £800. That's an increase of 100% in any other world than banking.

Youre getting there, c'mon.

Now say there was an example with a finite total amount.

Would it be acceptable, and would you understand it if someone expressed the increase/decrease as a percentage of the total amount?

 

[micromass]

The statement in the OP certainly makes sense if you give the extra information. If you just give the single value "increase by 25%", then it is ambiguous in this case. It's all a matter of cleanly presenting data. Nobody in a scientific paper is going to say "increase by 25%" without adding more context.

I really don't see the problem here.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

Not sure how you could calculate a decline of .8%

"a decline" is not a technical term for anything specifically, and would be dependent on what you wanted to relate it to.. Such as, a decline relative to the total, or a decline relative to the amount you already have. Hell, you could measure the decline relative to the number moons on Saturn if you wanted to.

Point being that saying "= a decline of 0.8%" does not really lock you into any specific relation. There would need to be more information for you to claim that you could not calculate it.

 

[NotAnEngineer]

I really don't see the problem here.

The problem, and the reason for this thread, is that I've had someone tell me that "expressing a reduction, as a percentage of a total amount" does not make sense to them.

Not only do I think it makes sense, but I think anyone with a basic understanding of percentages should be able to pick up on what that means. Therefore, I was just trying to get a general feel as to whether or not people knew what I was talking about when I said it.

Thanks for your answer tho.

 

[micromass]

The problem, and the reason for this thread, is that I've had someone tell me that "expressing a reduction, as a percentage of a total amount" does not make sense to them.

Not only do I think it makes sense, but I think anyone with a basic understanding of percentages should be able to pick up on what that means. Therefore, I was just trying to get a general feel as to whether or not people knew what I was talking about when I said it.

Thanks for your answer tho.

OK, I think you have enough answers now to get a general feel. This thread has gone on for long enough now. Locked.