Maths test - to think Civil Service have it wrong?

[Sharingaroomtinightthen]

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?

When incompetent people set the gatekeeping questions, competent ones like OP 'fail' while the 60% who pay little attention to both language and numbers get to join the CS and society suffers.

That's a bleak indictment, but probably has a lot of truth in it.

If you do the basic calculation to get a percentage

450/200 x100 =225%

The answer does look strange at does at first glance and without resorting to the maths but when you think about it and it does make sense

This is wrong.

Horsie....I think you've had too much fucking grass today my old friend, there is neigh way someone's this daft.

Yes, 1 + 1 = 2, of course.

I freely admit that I do not understand why 1 +1 = 2.....but 1 x 1 = 1 and not 2.

Er, "without resorting to the maths"? 🤔

It looks strange because it's wrong.

It's true, I am just a little horsie playing on my owner's phone that she left on my haystack today.

I'm a horsie with a headache after all this!

"Horsie returns to lying down gazing at the stars"

What is increasing 200 by 50%?

It’s 300, agree?

What is increasing 200 by 25%?

It’s 250, agree?

Increasing 200 by 125% can’t also be 250, agree?

I've just looked on Rightmove Sold. They show % INCREASES

18 Jul 1998

£100,000
Flat
Leasehold

18 Aug 2006

£245,000
Flat
Leasehold

+145% increase

So Rightmove shows a 100% increase as double

a 100% INCREASE on 200 is 400

If the publication is 450 that is a 125% INCREASE

This might just be at the root of everything.

Okay, one apple plus one apple equals two apples:

🍎 + 🍎 = 🍎 🍎

Three times one apple is the same as an apple plus an apple plus an apple. I.e. an apple, three times:

🍎 + 🍎 + 🍎 = 🍎🍎🍎

One times one apple is just an apple, i.e. an apple one time (once): 🍎

So "one times" anything just means one of it/them. So one apple, or an apple. 🍎

One times two apples is just two apples: 🍎🍎

Does that help at all?

If you wanted to give me 100% of your pizza, you'd have to hand it over to me. You would give me 100% of your pizza, yes, but YOU would have no pizza at all. There's only one pizza, because 1 x itself is still only 1. (1 x 1 = 1, not 2. 1+1 =2, but 1 x 1=1. It's weird.)

But if you DOUBLED the amount of pizza, you would have one full pizza and I would have one full pizza.

If there was only one pizza and you gave me a quarter, I would have 25% of your pizza and you would have the remaining 75%.

If you wanted to give me 125% of your one pizza, you would have to give me your one full pizza AND buy 25% more to give me.

Yes, it is at the root of everything.

That is very cruel, to demonstrate a maths problem to a horsie using apples.

I will read it when I've had a little rest.

But to answer the AIBU, you wouldn’t be unreasonable to email them. Maybe once you’ve got the outcome.

I think we have to look more closely at the actual wording.

They are not asking what percentage of the whole amount (at end of Yr 3) has the circulation risen by since end of Yr 1.

They are using the words "what percentage increase". So, I would suggest if something has risen from (for example) 100 to 200, the percentage increase is 200%. If something has doubled, it has become 200% of its original worth.

By this reckoning, if the circulation has risen from 200 to 450 (as per OP's original example), then the "percentage increase" is 225%. A "percentage increase" would include the original amount.

It has indeed risen by 250, which is 125% of 200 - but that is not what has been asked.

The question is not "how much has it increased by?"

This should be:

(450 - 200)/200 x 100 = 250/200 x 100 =125

You put the difference between 200 and 450 into the top and then divide by 200 (the original figure).

450 is 225% of the number 200 but it is an 125% INCREASE from the base of 200. Language matters because it describes reality but if you decide to pay faffing all attention to it well, you are not very smart. This is less a maths problem than a language problem.

Yes, she’d have to increase it by 25%. That’s right.

Yes. You are absolutely right.

And you have also neatly explained why a 100g can of beans offering an increase of 100% is still only 100g. A 200g can of beans would be a 200% increase on 100g can.

So, I would suggest if something has risen from (for example) 100 to 200, the percentage increase is 200%. If something has doubled, it has become 200% of its original worth.

No, this is wrong. 100 to 200 is a 100% increase. That is different to being worth 200% of the original value.

Imagine doing a math question without "resorting to math"! No wonder there are so many chumps around spouting the wrong answer with such confidence. Again, kids in the far east learn this in primary school.

Are you serious? 100% extra means twice as much. Come on now.

Put 100+100% into a calculator.

If you buy a 100 gram tin of beans and get 100% extra free you get 200 grams of beans. That's a 100% increase. You can not be serious now. Fuck my life this cannot be real.

Yes, you're both right, it's really late. I tried to edit my response but it wouldn't let me.

This is what 13-14 year olds learn at the beginning of the year, from one of my niece's math workbooks. Have fun!