How To Speak Right: Tip #1

Oftentimes, I hear this mistake made: Something is 4x greater so someone says it’s 400% more.

The numbers do not work like that. 400% more is actually 5x greater.

It’s very simple to see this if you simply use the example of 100% greater. If something is 100% greater, it’s easy to understand that the value has doubled. I had 10, now what I have is 100% greater, therefore I have 20. It doubled. That’s 2x.

So 100% = 2x more, so 200% = 3x more, and 300% = 4x more, etc.

Also, 50% greater would be half of its original value plus the original value. If I had 10 and now what I have is 50% greater, I would have 15.

Now, if you word it differently and use the word “of”, it changes everything. 100% of my original value is the original value.

So, if something is 4x greater you could say it is 400% of its original value.

(I titled this “How To Speak Right: Tip #1”. Maybe I’ll continue with these, maybe not. I’m not 100% sure.)