Coming from the chemistry end of things, I agree with you 100%. To the naysayers, though, who use the argument "If you're not used to the nomenclature, this makes a heck of a lot of sense. It certainly LOOKS like a fraction." I simply respond, if it were one-third, it would be written 1/3. That would be super easy and understandable to everyone who finished elementary school. The fact is that this is a WHOLE DIFFERENT nomenclature, so it is obviously a whole different expression. Nyah.
I agree with you, but at the same time it's REALLY DIFFICULT to teach an old dog new tricks unless it's company policy. Try arguing with someone who's written 33% as 1:3 for twenty years and doesn't want to change. I'd rather say 'just write the percentage on the bottle' and go for a beer. ;)
And just to complicate things, in probability, writing something as 1:6 means one chance out of 6. For instance, the odds of rolling a 1 on a fair six sided die is written 1:6. But, the ODDS for that are written "5 to 1".
So, if you consider that, 1:6 to that kind of person is equal to 1/6.
Comments 6
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
So, if you consider that, 1:6 to that kind of person is equal to 1/6.
Don't you love when math is ambiguous?
Reply
Leave a comment