Still not smarter than a fifth grader. More misunderstanding of percentages at the News & Record

A News & Record reporter makes another mistake regarding the basic understanding of percentages (previously by editor John Negay). This time it is reporter Donald Patterson, in a convoluted explanation of local poverty statistics, reporting that the increase in the number of people living in poverty here since 2000 represents "a jump of 3.5 percent."

It struck me as odd that such a small increase would be described as a "jump." So I went looking for a lucid explanation. I found it in an article from more than two weeks ago in the Triad Business Journal. What the Biz Journal explains, and that illuminates the News & Record error, is that the poverty rate "was 16.2 percent in 2008, up from 12.6 percent in 2000."

Ah. That is an increase of 28.6 percent, not 3.5 percent as Patterson reports--but, indeed, worthy of calling a jump when properly described. Petterson gets wrong the meaning of percent. The poverty rate increased by 28.6 PERCENT or 3.6 POINTS. If your cholesterol goes from 200 to to 220, that is a 20 POINT increase but a 10 PERCENT increase. Professionals who venture to explain statistics to their readers should understand the difference.