Two plus two is almost always four

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, in the movie 'The Irishman'.

A mathematician reads the newspaper

is the title of the famous book that Professor John Allen Paulos (Denver, Colorado, 1945) published 25 years ago to demonstrate that the misuse and ignorance of arithmetic distort the economy, politics, sports and even life itself.

In journalism, ignoring that fact translates into misinformation.

Those harmed are the readers, who store a falsified reality, and the press, which also loses credibility on that side.

Paulos himself was a victim of the spurious use of mathematics despite being an expert in the field and lost $ 500,000 (422,000 euros) on the stock market for applying a bad calculation model to his investments.

He recovered 300,000 (254,000 euros) with the sales of his book

where he clarified that his example should not be followed.

He remembered it with humor in EL PAÍS five years ago and said that, although people are obstinate with the exceptions, "most of the time two plus two do add up to four."

Journalists sometimes forget that elementary principle and, due to carelessness or ignorance, we spread erroneous data that provoke mockery and anger from readers.

Complaints have multiplied since the column

was published in this section in March

Rare is the week that no complaints arrive.

Here are some from the last month.

On October 11, we said in the

supplement

that the demand for meat in Spain “has fallen by 12%” since 2012, “going from 52 kilos per person per year to 45 kilos, of which fresh meats account for 32 kilos, 22 for processed products and one kilo for frozen meat ”.

32 + 22 + 1 = 55, therefore consumption would not have decreased, but would have increased.

The reader Javier Otazua wrote: "These failures are inappropriate in a newspaper of its category."

So is.

Three days later, we have a headline that in the Arousa estuary there was an oil slick "equivalent to 15 soccer fields."

A soccer field is 100 meters long and 70 wide;

then 100 x 70 x 15 = 105,000 square meters.

However, the text added: "The spot has a length (sic) of a kilometer and a half and a width of 400 meters."

Reader John Beaven didn't fit the numbers.

Rightly so, because 1,500 meters x 400 = 600,000 square meters, which is more than five times the area of ​​15 soccer fields.

In an article on options to watch movies at higher speeds it was said on October 21: "

who with his 210 minutes can be reduced to 140, not even two hours, having ..." José Ángel Estirado wrote to me: "We all know that two hours equivalent to 60 x 2 = 120 minutes ”.

We believed that.

On the 28th, we counted that the grounds of the monastery of Oia (Pontevedra) and its tourist complex occupy 57,000 hectares.

"An appreciable error", wrote the reader Luis Rodríguez, if one takes into account that the entire municipality has 8,300 hectares and the province, 91,700.

The next day, this headline:

but the text specified: Sweden "is almost 22 points ahead of Spain, with 83.8 points the first and 72 in the Spanish case ..." 83.8 - 72 = 11.8, far from the headline's 20.

The author corrected it and included a clear proof of errors.

By then, the reader Francisco Quintana had commented on the web: "Don't let math spoil a good headline for you."

A day later, the Economy section included graphics and texts on the General State Budgets.

The reader Bernardo Alonso regretted some "inconsistencies".

A graph indicated that the budget of the Royal House did not grow, but an attached text was titled thus:

.

Likewise, government items and European contributions to the Ministry of Health contained other discrepancies, which led Bernardo Alonso to remind me of this newspaper advertisement: "Knowing the facts and accessing quality information is more necessary than ever."

The editor-in-chief of Economics admits that information with so much data and prepared in a hurry generates “confusion” and promises more efforts “to correct any errors”.

“EL PAÍS”, says its

, “strives to present daily accurate information, as complete as possible, interesting, current and of high quality”.

That solemn principle includes

elementary

"Most of the time two plus two does add up to four."

This should be kept in mind every time we mention a figure.

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defender@elpais.es

The Reader's Ombudsman answers