Any wean can add up wee numbers to make a bigger one for a headline. Any wean doing Media Studies or not doing Media Studies will know that numbers add up to nothing unless you put them in context. They don’t, of course.
Editor [92] to Conor [18]:
216? Is that a lot? Do you think the figure for England might be interesting? You’ve heard lots about Scotland not doing any better so how many infections did they have in the last 7 days?
Cub Reporter, Conor [18]:
The 7 day average was 832 cases last week and they’ve got 10 times the population so they’ve got a lower infection rate? Told you!
Editor:
Hold it, son. That means an average of 832 EVERY day or 5 824 in the last seven days. You said you had Nat 5 Maths at the interview, I seem to remember.
Conor:
Yeh, but, still, ten times the population?
Editor:
Yes, ten times 216 or 2 160 cases of infection if the rate was the same in England?
Get it?
But it was 5 824? Yes?
So the rate in England per capita, pro rata, per head of population, is roughly home many times higher?
5 824 divided by 2 160?
You need a calculator?
Roughly? Oh FFS it’s nearly THREE times higher even after a spike in Aberdeen.
Get me a coffee.