Sir, – In 2013, 16 per cent of Leaving Certificate students took higher maths, while in 2014, 27 per cent took it. Newspapers and radio immediately report that this represents a 10 per cent rise. Rounding from 11 to 10 would be fine in the interests of telling a simple story. However, a change from 16 per cent to 27 per cent represents a whopping 68.75 per cent increase from one year to the next. Would that journalists – any journalists ever – could master simple percentages. – Yours, etc,
FRED CUMMINS,
School of Computer Science
and Informatics,
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University College,
Dublin 4