Polls - always good for a laugh!

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board ARCHIVE' started by Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014.

Page 1 of 2
  1. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    Latest: Yes 45% No 50% don't know 6% (101%) How does that work then?? Yesterday's total came to 99%.
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #1
  2. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    It because of rounding I'd assume, for example 45.5% and 54.5% come to 100%, yeah, but both of those rounded properly make 46% and 55% 101%
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #2
  3. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    That only works with numbers NOT percentages since a percentage is always a 'fraction of 100'
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #3
  4. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    If I have 1000 people, and 655 vote No, that's 65.5%
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #4
  5. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    and 345 is 34.5. 65.5 and 34.5 is 100% It HAS to add up to 100!
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #5
  6. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    Yeah, but the point is all the decimals can't fit on, so they round them, and .5 is always rounded up.
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #6
  7. Pas

    Pasta Banned Idiot

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2009
    Messages:
    2,835
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    Location:
    In a good place...
    Home Page:
    The whole subject of independence is a hyped up joke.
     
    Pasta, Sep 12, 2014
    #7
  8. man

    mansfield_red Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2011
    Messages:
    10,666
    Likes Received:
    17,760
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    The results could have been 44.6%, 49.7% and 5.7%. Adds up to 100% but rounding each to the nearest % gives 45%, 50% and 6%
     
    mansfield_red, Sep 12, 2014
    #8
  9. Pas

    Pasta Banned Idiot

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2009
    Messages:
    2,835
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    Location:
    In a good place...
    Home Page:
    Would have thought that would have been 44%, 50%, 6%........but I don't know the rules of mathematics and rounding, so could very easily be talking out of my arris,
     
    Pasta, Sep 12, 2014
    #9
  10. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    This. Similarly, for example, 45.4%, 49.3% and 5.3% is 100%, but 45, 49 and 5 gets you 99
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #10
  11. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    Any decimal below .5 is rounded down, .5 and up is rounded up
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #11
  12. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    When I did Economics we had to do basic statistics...

    There is a requirement that the integer percentages must add up to <nobr>[FONT=MathJax_Main-Web]100[/FONT][FONT=MathJax_Main-Web]%[/FONT] </nobr> . Which means that rounding up one percentage will cause the other to round down. you canuse an algorithm to bring it back to 100% on computer programs
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #12
  13. arabian_ian

    arabian_ian Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2013
    Messages:
    14,288
    Likes Received:
    16,226
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Broughty Ferry
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    This government will do anything to get the result they want.

    Running scared.
     
    arabian_ian, Sep 12, 2014
    #13
  14. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    Not when dealing with percentages (see my other reply)
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #14
  15. BarnsleyReds

    BarnsleyReds Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2013
    Messages:
    12,070
    Likes Received:
    14,316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    XenForo - Xenith Reds
    I'm a professional programmer and I've never heard of, or used such an algorithm, then again, I can't recall an instance where I've displayed % as actual numbers. Mainly used, from my experience in GUI based elements, or in games, for example, where I normally would display it on a bar.

    EDIT: that said, I can see your point, I'm just explaining where the figures came from.
     
    BarnsleyReds, Sep 12, 2014
    #15
  16. EastStander

    EastStander Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2005
    Messages:
    29,883
    Likes Received:
    24
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Upper tier, Gangway 11
    Home Page:
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    Don't worry - it could always be the Fox News school of statistics!
    [​IMG]
     
    EastStander, Sep 12, 2014
    #16
  17. Farnham_Red

    Farnham_Red Administrator Staff Member Admin

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2005
    Messages:
    34,499
    Likes Received:
    23,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Farnham
    Style:
    Barnsley
    If you only have 2 figures I think you are right but if you have 3 figures for the purposes of press reporting of course they will round them

    Lets say for example you have 300 people polled and exactly 100 say they will vote yes another 100 will vote no and the final hundred are still undecided

    thats 33.3333333...% each

    This will be reported as 33% in each camp = 99% - of course its wrong but I dont see how your algoritm works which one do you round up to 34%
     
    Farnham_Red, Sep 12, 2014
    #17
  18. Tek

    Tekkytyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Messages:
    7,376
    Likes Received:
    4,644
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Italy
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    I am not a programmer so bow to your experience. I have noted though with MS xls (and when I used to use a ClarisWorks) I did not find percentage anomalies. Open Office xls does (did) however throw up some strange rounding up/down especially when using currency cells. I did find a (very academic) discussion and examples on the web. Over my head!
     
    Tekkytyke, Sep 12, 2014
    #18
  19. arabian_ian

    arabian_ian Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2013
    Messages:
    14,288
    Likes Received:
    16,226
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Broughty Ferry
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    [​IMG]

    Most polls are normally takes over a cross section of 1000 people.

    As you can see this online poll taking the views of over 23000 gives interesting reading.
     
    arabian_ian, Sep 12, 2014
    #19
  20. EastStander

    EastStander Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2005
    Messages:
    29,883
    Likes Received:
    24
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Upper tier, Gangway 11
    Home Page:
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    That's all well and good but doesn't give any indication as to the demographic - for all I know it was taken outside SNP headquarters!
     
    EastStander, Sep 13, 2014
    #20
Page 1 of 2

Share This Page