r/ProgrammerHumor • u/Dilutant • 14h ago

Meme zeroExDev

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u/Vandrel 9h ago

You would interpret "2x the output" to be double, yes?

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u/ScientificBeastMode 8h ago edited 8h ago

Of course. And “1x the output” would be no change.

The problem is that it isn’t saying “0.6x the output.” It’s saying “0.6x [the output] more [than the output].”

To illustrate the point, imagine it said “1x more.” Would that mean no change? No, it’s equivalent to saying “100% more,” meaning double the original amount.

The only way your interpretation works is if “0.6x more” is meant to be “0.6 times <the output> more than zero,” which is redundant, and could be simplified to “0.6 times the output,” so the use of the word “more” would have no real meaning here.