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Original poster

Maths question - Civil Service is wrong (we now have 100% more threads about the subject)

434 replies

Sharingaroomtinightthen · 02/08/2025 13:36

When I posted late last night I thought I’d get maybe half a dozen replies confirming the question didn’t have the correct answer and advising whether to tell the Civil Service recruiters. But here we are 1000 posts later.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384347-maths-test-to-think-civil-service-have-it-wrong

Maths question - Civil Service is wrong (we now have 100% more threads about the subject)
OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
BrickBiscuit · 09/08/2025 21:49

SerendipityJane · 09/08/2025 14:30

Ooooohhhh !!!! Some intrigue !

I wonder what on earth @cakeorwine could have posted on this thread to cause MNHQ to feel for the pearls ?

I wonder if it's the pelcgb word ?

I see cakey’s subsequent explanation and get that it’s 0.2c per KB. But what on earth is the pelcbg word? Intriguing.

cakeorwine · 09/08/2025 21:52

BrickBiscuit · 09/08/2025 21:49

I see cakey’s subsequent explanation and get that it’s 0.2c per KB. But what on earth is the pelcbg word? Intriguing.

Show quote history

I don't even know if MNHQ are even going to look at the link!

BrickBiscuit · 09/08/2025 22:17

cakeorwine · 09/08/2025 21:52

I don't even know if MNHQ are even going to look at the link!

Show quote history

Wot's everybody talking about? KBs? pelcgb?

SerendipityJane · 10/08/2025 09:38

cakeorwine · 09/08/2025 21:52

I don't even know if MNHQ are even going to look at the link!

Show quote history

I think you may have to nudge them. I've had that in the past. They block first, ask questions never.

SerendipityJane · 10/08/2025 09:41

BrickBiscuit · 09/08/2025 22:17

Wot's everybody talking about? KBs? pelcgb?

Show quote history

I know one word that will automatically get a post banned. It can make talking about old church architecture very difficult if you can't think of a synonym. It's origins are from the ancient Greek word for "hidden".

"KBs" is kilobytes.

Merryoldgoat · 12/08/2025 17:16

@cakeorwine

This really is the thread that keeps giving 🤣

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

poetryandwine · 13/08/2025 12:42

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

This isn’t how percentages work. The whole at the beginning is 100%. You cannot decrease the initial amount by more than 100%.

OTOT you can increase the initial whole by many multiples of itself, so you could increase by 1500%.

Since you asked about credentials, I am a STEM PhD and academic.

poetryandwine · 13/08/2025 12:43

Edit: since you mentioned experts…..

marcopront · 13/08/2025 13:14

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

Suppose the original price was $50, what is 100% of that price?

marcopront · 13/08/2025 13:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

marcopront · 13/08/2025 13:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

cakeorwine · 13/08/2025 13:14

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

What would happen if I reduced prices by 93.75%

To reduce an item by 93.75%, you could work out 93.75% of a price and take it off.

So $16 * 0.9375 = $15.
Then take it off - so $16 - $15 = $1

Which is what you have said is the same as 1/16 of the original price and then said that it's been reduced by 1500%

BrickBiscuit · 13/08/2025 14:26

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

But you ARE in negative numbers. Slashing a $16 drug by 1500% makes $-224. You end up paying the customer $224 plus the drug. Slashing it by 100% makes zero. By 50% makes $8. And so on. By 94% makes it about $1.

Original poster
Sharingaroomtinightthen · 13/08/2025 14:46

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

Something that was £16 and is now £1 is being reduced by 93.75%.

1500% would be you giving a buyer £224 to take it off your hands. Or -224.

OP posts:
niadainud · 13/08/2025 14:56

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

What??

If you reduced the cost of a drug that was originally $16 it would be $8. If you reduce it by 100% it would now cost $0. So how could reducing it by 1,500% give you a price of $1?!

Merryoldgoat · 13/08/2025 19:26

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 12:14

Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.

I would like the experts to expand on this. Yes you can slash prices by 1500%. It simply means that the new price is 1/16 of the original price - whether it is practically possible is one thing, whether is it is mathematically possible is another. A drug which used to cost $16 becomes $1. The only mathematical limit is that you do not want to go into negative numbers which effectively means you paying people to "buy" the drug. Trump should be held accountable for his incredible claims, so should the experts.

Is this a joke? Or just a display of supreme idiocy surpassing the most ludicrous claims already on this thread which I had thought unsurpassable…

TeenToTwenties · 13/08/2025 19:38

This is depressing.

If you double the price you increase by 100%.
To get it back to the original you have it which is decrease by 50%.

If you attempt to decrease by more than 100% you are into negatives, thus paying someone to take it away.

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 22:17

I was wrong. I should think twice before I post.

poetryandwine · 13/08/2025 22:19

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 22:17

I was wrong. I should think twice before I post.

No worries. Would that Donald Trump had the same attitude :)

cakeorwine · 13/08/2025 22:23

miraxxx · 13/08/2025 22:17

I was wrong. I should think twice before I post.

You need to give 200% effort in future Grin

EasternStandard · 14/08/2025 09:11

Did you email in the end op?

SerendipityJane · 14/08/2025 09:26

EasternStandard · 14/08/2025 09:11

Did you email in the end op?

I would imagine that the test is actually administered by a 3rd party (remember there's always room for another snout in the trough). So there's plenty of scope for accountability to be diluted to the point of irrelevance.

Considering this thread is in AIBU and provides an opportunity (if it were needed) to bash the civil service, I am surprised it's been missed by the some tabloids Although admittedly I can't see the readership of the Express, of GBNews viewers grasping the points raised herein.

MontyDonsBlueScarf · 14/08/2025 11:51

SerendipityJane · 14/08/2025 09:26

I would imagine that the test is actually administered by a 3rd party (remember there's always room for another snout in the trough). So there's plenty of scope for accountability to be diluted to the point of irrelevance.

Considering this thread is in AIBU and provides an opportunity (if it were needed) to bash the civil service, I am surprised it's been missed by the some tabloids Although admittedly I can't see the readership of the Express, of GBNews viewers grasping the points raised herein.

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I agree, but that doesn't normally stop them offering an opinion.

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