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RE: What to say when figures appear as though they "don't add up" --but do
Subject:RE: What to say when figures appear as though they "don't add up" --but do From:Kim Roper <kim -dot- roper -at- vitana -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 13 Mar 2001 12:47:35 -0500
Ah, here we go. From a page on the Statistics Canada Website
(http://www.statcan.ca/), uncovered in a site search:
Understanding the Data
Confidentiality and Random Rounding
For Census data
To ensure confidentiality, the values, including totals, are randomly
rounded either up or down to a multiple of "5" or "10". To understand these
data, you must be aware that each individual value is rounded. As a result,
when these data are summed or grouped, the total value may not match the
individual values since total and sub-totals are independently rounded.
Similarly, percentages, which are calculated on rounded data, may not
necessarily add up to 100%. Population counts are the only figures that are
not rounded since they provide no information about individual
characteristics.
Cheers ... Kim mailto:kim -dot- roper -at- vitana -dot- com
"Apollo, the god of light, of reason, of proportion, harmony, number-Apollo
blinds those who press too close in worship. Don't look straight at the
sun. Go into a dark bar for a bit and have a beer with Dionysios, every now
and then."
-- Ursula K. Le Guin, Introduction to "The Left Hand of Darkness"
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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