Tag Archives: innumeracy

The Percentage Trap

Twitter comments to the recently released GDP growth numbers for the Third Quarter reminded me of an old trap regarding percentages.  The financial and technical articles were accurate, but the comments by Twitter users often reflected the pitfall.

After a Second Quarter annualized US GDP fall of about 33%, the Third Quarter showed a gain of about 33%.  So some commenters thought the gain canceled the previous loss.

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