Saturday, March 20, 2010

Math for Journalists

1)The budget for a local college is $120 million. Of that total, the state provides about 66% of the funding. Grants, fees, and gifts provide less than half of that; about 29% of funding comes from those areas. The remaining 5% comes from student tuition.

2)*For every 12 months in prison, the person gets about a 1.5 years on probation
*The median: 12 months
*The median is an accurate account because it is the most common number, so the likelihood of a person spending a year in jail is strong.

3)*California state sales tax is 8.25%
*I wasn't sure how to answer the second two bullet points because I didn't know where to get the information to use? Or I wasn't sure what it was asking

1 comment:

  1. 1) You've got the numbers right, but instead of using percentages, round them off. You want to make it easy for people to understand, so say something like: "about two-thirds comes from the state, more than a quarter comes from fees, grants and gifts, and just five percent (or one dollar in 20) comes from tuition." Also, write out "percent." (3.5/5)

    2) You got the median, but what's the average? (2.5/5)

    3) It's just math. For example, $5 x 52 weeks=$260. Multiply that times 8.25% (0.0825) and you get $21.45. That's how much a person would save in a year if they didn't have to pay sales tax on one $5 meal per week. (1/5)

    Why don't you try calculating the $20/week meal scenario?

    7/15

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