Is "50% off + 20% more" the Same as 70% off?
Is "50% off + 20% more" the Same as 70% off? — Numbers don't lie, but hide the "base" and they can fool people. Understand percent properly and you can see through the real numbers behind ads and sales. Math is the smart shopper's weapon.
A store says "50% off! Plus 20% more off!" So that's 70% off, right? But do the math and it somehow isn't 70%. Why are percentages so confusing?
Percent means "how many per 100." In Roman times, the emperor taxed goods at one part per hundred when buying and selling — that was the start of percent. Counting "per 100" let people fairly compare items of different sizes. People realized: when amounts vary, "viewing the whole as 100" lets anyone compare easily.
The key to percent is "a percentage of what?" Take 50% off a $100 item and it's $50. Take 20% more off — not 70%, but 20% off the already-reduced $50 (=$10), leaving $40. So it's really 60% off! Because the second 20% is based on the already-discounted price, not the original. Always look at "what the base is." Know this and you won't be fooled by sale traps — you'll shop smart.
- Shopping discounts and sales (the real price of stacked discounts)
- Bank interest, savings, and loan rates
- Test scores, pass rates, and statistics
- Battery level, download progress
比 (bi) shows two people standing side by side to compare — the 比 of "comparison, ratio." Setting the whole at 100 and comparing, the percentage, is exactly the math of 比.
Meet this hanja in Cheonjamun →Numbers don't lie, but hide the "base" and they can fool people. Understand percent properly and you can see through the real numbers behind ads and sales. Math is the smart shopper's weapon.
