This has bugged me for years, possibly decades.
Jack has two toy cars. Alex has ten toy cars.
How do we express how many more cars Alex has than Jack, as a multiple, conversationally?
"Alex has five times as many toy cars as Jack."
OBVIOUSLY. [5J=A]
"Alex has five times more cars than Jack."
NO. Logically that translates to me as [J+5J=A]
Once more than Jack --> [J+J=2J]
Five times more than Jack --> [J+5J=6J]
I'm alone, aren't I?
Disclaimer: I did Semantics in my finals and often sometimes overthink.
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Pedants' corner
Conversational multiplication
15 replies
MrsHathaway · 01/05/2015 22:16
OP posts:
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.