Why Don't People Know Basic Math?

Why don't people understand basic math?  Let's take, for example, "The Pint" water fixture which provides water to flush a urinal in a men's restroom (rants can originate from SO many places!).  It boldly declares, "Saves 88% more water than a one-gallon urinal."  But what does this mean?

Mathematically, we know that "88% more" means we multiply by 1.88 to get the answer.  But what are we multiplying?  It's talking about water savings as compared to a one-gallon urinal.  So I guess we need to start with how much water a one-gallon urinal saves, then multiply that by 1.88 to see how much this eco-friendly fixture saves.

Assuming that a one-gallon urinal is Eco-Evil, and doesn't save any water (zero savings), then zero times 1.88 equals...   Zero!
Hmmm, that's not much to brag about.

So, let's pretend that we're comparing a one-gallon urinal to a two-gallon urinal.  The one-gallon urinal then saves one gallon per flush as compared to a two-gallon urinal.  Doing the math, "The Pint" then saves 1.88 gallons per flush!  That's a pretty bold statement, in that it saves more water than the one-gallon urinal uses in the first place.  Not really sure how you can save something that wasn't actually consumed to begin with.

Sorry Zurn, your bogus math doesn't cut it.  In reality - with a US pint being one eighth of a US gallon - you could declare, "Uses 12.5% of the water that would be used in a one-gallon flush."  But from a marketing perspective I guess it doesn't sound as glamorous as the meaningless declaration of "Saves 88% more...."

Read more bogus math here...
http://timesless.com/