Friday, 15 July 2011

Mail: 'One in four' = 42%

On page 25 of yesterday's Mail, and on their website, was a story about a Macmillan Cancer Support press release that claimed 42% of Britons will suffer with cancer at some point in their life.

The Mail can not resist a cancer story, of course, but didn't get the figures right:


Technically, the article by Sophie Borland is right - 42% is 'more than one in four'. But it's not clear why anyone thought one in four is the same as 42%.

Almost two days after the story first appeared, the Mail website have now corrected the figures to 'four in ten'.

(Hat-tip to Kat Arney)
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous22 July 2011 at 13:16

    Maybe she was really talking about the people that eventually die from it - 64% that actually die of the 42% that catch it is about 26.8, just more than one in four :)

    Or something.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Boring Oul Fart25 July 2011 at 22:52

    Excellent blog. I am Irish, but I also read most of the UK papers. Wish we had something similar here in Ireland. Keep it up - the comments are also great for letting me hear what the neighbours think.

    ReplyDelete

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