A concept that I found interesting on chapter 13 is called: "misleading claims with numbers". There are many categories in this section. To name a few, there's apple and oranges: which means a comparison where it doesn't make sense to compare other items. Also, there's one called, two times zero is still zero. This means that when someone gives a numerical comparison that makes it seem impressive when the base of the comparison is not mentioned.
I find two times zero is still zero an interesting concept. Since I work in retails, my manager often put a lot of pressure on me since I'm a sales associate. Often times, he would always remind me of how good or how bad the store is doing if we don't make the sales goal of the day. After reading this concept in Epstein's critical thinking book, I realized that my manager never tells me the base of the comparison when he's trying to tell me the goal. Now I can use this concept and ask my manager what is the base comparison because who knows? Maybe the store is doing well but he's putting more pressure on me to sell more clothing to benefit his pocket and company!
The misleading of Numbers has been a popular subject in our weekly blogs. It also interests me when I first read it.
ReplyDeleteI always thought of numbers as concrete factors towards information. Like people say,"Numbers do not lie." That may be true, but some people see numbers in different ways and that is what causes the misleading of others towards how they see numbers.
For me to become an engineer, numbers are very important to me and I need to perceive them the logical way. Without numbers and Mathematics, our world would not be as it is today. So we should be grateful to numbers and how they serve us with knowledge.
I also notice about how the misleading of numbers have been a main factor in this discussion throughout the week. I find that numbers are used throughout the business world and they can mislead the business in a negative position. They have become a priority in the market and if someone are not careful in what they are doing, it can cause problems later on. In an area that I work for, they set goals to us that are times are impossible and begin to wonder if the goals they are reaching for is for the company or for their benefits. It is something to take into consideration.
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