Alarming 45-fold rise in measles in Europe - WHO
www.bbc.co.uk
Urgent measures are needed now to stop further spread, the World Health Organization says.
  • Ashelyn@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    30-fold or 30 times? Very big difference between n×30 vs n×2^(30)

    I guess I’m being pedantic here but I always thought there was a difference between the two. Oh well.

    • Skavier@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Do you have a source for that? I looked at the Etymologie and it seems to be from old germanic languages. I am skeptical that old germanic people wold know the difference between Multiplication and 2 power x.

    • Atomic@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      If I have 2 apples. And you have 10 times as much.

      Do you think you have 20 apples, or do you think you have n=2, n*2^(10) = 2048 apples?

      As far as I’m aware, 30 fold and 30 times are simply synonymous with eachother.

      • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        The “fold” has its equal in the german “fach” which means x*n of the n-fold. The “times” is just a synonymous term that developed too.

        I think you might get confused here, because it is usually used in the context of something having increased tenfold, which us often used to describe the result of an exponential growth. Nobody says “it increased twofold”. Outside of scientific topics, language doesnt really refer to exponential growth. As we saw with Covid, it is a concept difficult to grasp for people in general and it is not part of the day to day language.