Maths test - to think Civil Service have it wrong?

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I’ve just applied for a Civil Service test. Part of it is passing a numerical test.

This is the question.

The answer is 125%. I’m sure of it.

If you start with £100, and in the first year it doubles it’s £200. So at the of year one it’s £200.

In year two it trebles to £600.

It then falls by a quarter in the third year to £450.

So end of year 1 - £200.

End of year 3 - £450.

It’s increased by 125%.

125% isn’t an answer option.

WIBU to email and tell them they’ve got it wrong?

So if I offered you 100% of a pizza I'd give you a full pizza right. And if I offered you 125% of a pizza I'd give you a quarter of a pizza??

125% of 100 grapes is 125 grapes. But that is not a 125% increase.

I know!

I have never laughed so much at a thread about maths - or possibly any thread.

In fact I would say I've laughed approximately 125% as much as I have at any other thread.

That's why 125% of 100 grapes is an extra 25 grapes, not an extra 125.

correct - 125% of 100 grapes is an extra 25 grapes.

If I start with 100 grapes and increase my grapes by 25% , I have 125 grapes. If I increased my grapes by 125% I would have 225 grapes.

The original problem was obviously too hard, you've got to start small.

Nearly there! Yes, 125% of 100 grapes is an extra 25 grapes — and the extra 25 is a percentage increase of 25%!!

Percentage is not the same as percentage increase. The percentage is the total. The percentage increase is the amount you’ve increased the grapes by.

This is the kind of question 11-12 year olds do in primary school maths in Singapore. They know the answer lies in the language used - in this case percentage change. The answer is 125% and OP is correct. The Civil service got this embarassingly wrong

You had 100 grapes, which is 100% of the grapes. You want to give them.125% of the grapes, which is 25 grapes.

So the increase in % is 25% and the increase in grapes us 25 grapes.

😆 Maybe one for tomorrow night.

Not half (50%) as embarrasing as some (x) of the posters on this thread.

Basic arithmetic is never "illogical".

But you’re forgetting the totally made up bonkers logic that a % of a thing can only be less than the thing, so a % of a thing that is actually bigger than the thing is by definition the same as the percentage increase. 😂😂

😂

Don't forget the real reason, it's because of the special properties of number 1.

Hahah touché

When you have a number trebled, it is 3 times the original number but an increase of 2 from the base of 1. You always have to keep track of base and final numbers and an increase notes the difference between them. It is primary school maths. Sunak had a point about numerical literacy and you can see why the CS resisted it!

https://thirdspacelearning.com/gcse-maths/number/percentage-increase/

'Common misconceptions' is at the bottom

There is certainly a "misunderstanding of one" on this thread, but not quite in the way you mean it...

This is wildly unfair to pigeons, who are quite intelligent, unlike circa 60% of this thread (as it stands) 😂🙈

I can confirm that the % of dog on my bed has increased by more than the original amount (was 100% of dog, now 200% of dog) and as such there is less % of bed for me to lie in - it is measurable, but I don't know how to measure it accuratly, all I can say is I cannot friggin move so I will soon be kicking 100% of the new amount of "dog" (i.e. two dogs) off the bloody bed as soon as I post this message.

That’s a relatively recent change — I used to design various tests in the CS (and other organizational) assessment processes and the way the assessment metrics were used in recruitment, and the overall assessment most certainly hasn’t always been information-blind. (Information blind assessment has all sorts of other biases and is almost never actually blind, but that’s another long discussion of its own…)

The DV processes I’ve been part of are a different stage of the process, and were in specific bits of the fast stream (not just FCO/SIS either); but as recently as about four years ago when I did the most recent one, they still go into very specific detail of the applicant’s educational, social and personal background and cognitive style. (These are definitely reduced though compared to in the past. The first time I did DV a rather nice gentleman actually came to visit me at my office for three whole hours of discussing the candidate!)

No, the posters here did not have the responsibility of setting this question and providing the correct answer as an option. This is on the CS. You should hold them to account.

Put it in chat gpt and see what it says

On reflection, you are 100% correct.

Any input from mumsnet members was 100% optional.

50% of my quantity of dog is refusing to leave my bed.

I also have the theme tune to Howards Way running through my head.

I have 100% no idea why that is. I could weep. 100% I could.