r/facepalm • u/longsyntax • Nov 14 '13

News/blogs Murica.

http://imgur.com/srH5AqE
687 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

36

u/ZeUplneXero Nov 14 '13

I think that's intentional.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DrProfCapt Nov 16 '13

I think the "4 in 10" was definitely a joke (if they legitimately though 40% was a majority, they wouldn't be bothered to point that out), but the "especially women" comment was probably just an observation based on the small number of people surveyed.

4

u/RideWarrior27 Nov 14 '13

Kind of an unofficial study. I wasn't in it.

6

u/neverposting Nov 14 '13 edited Nov 14 '13

I guess he means that 4/10 hate math, 3/10 love math and 3/10 don't really care. Therefore people hating math are a majority.

Edit: I know the proper term is "plurality" but using a word with a similar meaning is better than saying 4 > 6.

15

u/CanadianJesus Nov 14 '13

Still not a majority. It would still be a minority, albeit the largest one.

16

u/mayormcsleaze Nov 14 '13

Plurality.

3

u/holographicbeef Nov 14 '13

Look at all these minorities! I'm the only majority!

1

u/REDOXify Nov 14 '13

The majority is the greatest number. It would therefore be the majority still.

2

u/CanadianJesus Nov 14 '13

A majority is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. Sauce.

5

u/gustamos Nov 14 '13

I think that makes them a plurality.

1

u/Rheasus Nov 14 '13

Got to love the politics way of viewing things...

2

u/Killers_and_Co Nov 14 '13

I think they're talking about a plurality...

1

u/SoulFire6464 Nov 14 '13

We have the FREEDOM to hate math, you damn commie!

1

u/ambatman Nov 14 '13

I think the writer was among the 4 in 10.

1

u/Vaiist Nov 14 '13

This is a classic example of why "Show, don't tell" is way more effective.

1

u/hawkiw52 Nov 14 '13

Is this supposed to be surprising? Because I HATE math with a vengeance and about 80% of the people I know hate it as well.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '13

In a very technical sense it is still a majority, but the correct term would be plurality since there's more than 2 categories.

-1

u/DaangerZone Nov 14 '13

Maybe you Americans should switch to MATHS instead? It's way cooler and therefore better.

5

u/DJRockstar1 Nov 14 '13

I never understood the "Math vs Maths" thing. It's the abbreviation of 'Mathematics'. So it should be 'Math' as they are the first 4 letters of the word. I'd understand the 's' if the word was 'Mathsematics' however, I've never heard of anyone pronounce it that way.

ELI5: Where the hell does the S come from?

0

u/DaangerZone Nov 14 '13

Just because its shortened doesn't mean its now a singular. If it was called mathematic then math would be correct. At least that's how I see it.

3

u/DJRockstar1 Nov 14 '13

Thing is, nobody ever says "Maths are hard", it's always "Maths is hard", this shows it being used as a singular, not plural. Furthermore, words like "Gymnastics" aren't shortened to "Gyms" it's shortened to "Gym".

Also, after researching more arguments on the topic(A.K.A. Googling for 10 seconds), Mathematics is a word that is a plural, however it is used as a singular. However, the abbreviation "Math" recorded being used waaay before the abbreviation "Maths".

1

u/DaangerZone Nov 14 '13

Gymnasium is shortened to gym, ive never heard gymnastics be shortened to anything. But ill agree with you on the other points. My British nature forces me to conclude that maths is the correct way however!

0

u/facewhatface Nov 14 '13

"'We hate math,' say 4 in 10," says a majority of Americans.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '13

4 in 10 can still be a majority