We are not numerate …

Steve Layman reminds us that, in general, we are not numerate:

 most people just don’t understand how [compounding] works. For instance, 10% growth for 25 years is not 250%, it’s 985%!”

Douglas Adams understood, of course, and illustrated its power – especially if combined with time travel – in paying your bill at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe:

“You can arrive for any sitting you like without prior reservation because you can book retrospectively, as it were, when you return to your own time … All you have to do is deposit one penny in a savings account in your own era, and when you arrive at the End of Time the operation of compound interest means the fabulous cost of your meal has been paid for.”

 

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