Percents

Ok, so this is not exactly a baby-related post, except maybe for the fact that I hope my son is not bad at math. Now, he doesn't have to be a math genius, but I'm at least hoping he doesn't make the following mistake.

I was out shopping at BCBG today for loose flowy tops that I could wear as maternity gear (see? Somewhat baby-related.) Anyway, BCBG was having a 60% off sale, with an additional 20% off. All these women were gathered around saying, "Ooh, that means it's 80% off!" Wrong! You can't add percentages like that because after you take the initial 60% off, you're taking the additional 20% off a new price. This is how I explain it to my students - say you want to purchase an item that's $100 with the sale described above. Now, it seems most people would make the mistake and think it's 80% off, making your total $20. Let me explain why this is incorrect. Go ahead and take 60% off $100. That's $40. Then take an additional 20% off the $40. That makes your final price $32. And $32 of $100 is 32%, meaning you only saved 68%, not 80%. See how that works? I was very compelled to correct all these women at BCBG, who at this point started getting out their calculators to perform incorrect calculations, but I didn't want to be that guy. Instead, I take to my blog to vent to you guys, since it seems most of my readers are family and friends and I know you all will love me regardless of my anal-retentive tendencies :)

And to appease those out there that probably visited this blog today in hopes of a Lil Bit update, I'll leave you with this - he's doing very well and weighs about a pound and a half now. He happily kicks me everyday :)

Happy Tuesday and thanks for stopping by!