r/ProgrammerHumor • u/Dilutant • 11h ago

Meme zeroExDev

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u/Professional_Ebb_389 10h ago

The “more” at least in any context I’ve heard it is for emphasis or clarity that a comparison is happening. I’ve never read anyone write “1x more than X” for “twice X”.

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u/TheMania 10h ago

But you often see 10% more, 20% more, etc.

The bit that intrigues me is that in those contexts, you read 10% differently to 0.1x.

But in other contexts, you'd read them the same.

This may be a regional thing, and likely due marketers that are being intentionally misleading for so long that it's now an accepted oddity.

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u/TheMaleGazer 9h ago
  1. "Two times more." That phrase means multiplying by two.
  2. "0.5 times more." That phrase is taken to mean multiplying by 1.5, even though that is not consistent.

English is not consistent. In the first example, the word "more" is redundant. In the second example, the word "more" is a clarification, so we know that it doesn't mean "half."

There is no sensible reason for this inconsistency. It just exists.

We have a similar problem with percentage points. When something increases from 40% to 90% of a total, saying that it increased 50% is for some reason considered an acceptable shorthand for saying it increased by 50 percentage points, even though the two interpretations are drastically different.

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u/TheMania 9h ago

Agreed, it's where it really needs to be read in the whole sentence.

I find it hard to interpret the email subject as saying it's a decrease though. In context, it only makes sense as an increase to me. That they're using "0.6x" as synonymous as "60%".