Innumeracy in the news

I was half asleep while watching the news this morning, but halfway through my first cup of coffee this story caught my attention:

Customers speak out about Duke Energy rate increase

"Raleigh, N.C. — Duke Energy customers voiced their concerns on Thursday night about a planned 13.5 percent rate increase.

"Under the plan, people with an average monthly bill of $100 a month would go up about $18."

I hate to pick on my friends at WRAL, but how did that get on the air?

WNCN says the increase is 12.6% -- and their math works out:

"The utility wants a 12.6 percent hike, which would be an additional $150 a year for a household that currently pays about $100 a month."

WTVD also says the rate hike is 12.6%, and claims that it's "about $11 per month." But they don't mention a base rate. If the average bill is around $87, then that works out.

Is the proposed rate increase 12.6%, or 13.5%? Is the average bill going up $11 per month, $150 per year, or $18 per month? Is $18 = to 13.5% of $100?

Do you believe in fairies? Unicorns? BMI?

Mathematician Kieth Devlin of Stanford points out that even the CDC engages in junk science occasionally -- and the "Body Mass Index" is his example.

According to this CDC endorsed metric, these people are all overweight: Kobe Bryant, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington. Tom Cruise scored even worse, being classified as downright obese, as was Arnold Shwarzenegger when he was a world champion body-builder. With definitions like that, no wonder Americans think of themselves as having an overweightness epidemic. (Using the CDC's BMI measure, 66 percent of adults in the United States are considered overweight or obese.)

Dilbert on the abuse of graphics

Since I'm going to an Edward Tufte seminar on Monday, I thought today's Dilbert comic was quite timely:

Mathematics for Economists