Maths are hard
A&W introduced a burger that was bigger and less expensive than McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, but it failed because customers assumed 1/3 was less than 1/4.
Image credit: Cover of Measuring Up by Daniel Koretz, relevant book aswell.
One of the most vivid arithmetic failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than the Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W’s burger. And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cited these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it. Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.
THANKS FOR STOPING BY @GAVINTHEGREAT
a dumb assumption which benefited cows across the nation... 1/12 of them at least.
In supermarkets you see 2lbs for $3
and similar price scams all over.
The worst I've seen is 10 for $10.
And this is done because americans are really bad at math.
Sure we force everyone in school to get into calculus, but
we don't teach anything about math and its real application
finances.
This is done on purpose. Things like "new math" are
a plan to confuse more kids, to grow up to be math illiterate.
Congratulations @gavinthegreat! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You got a First Reply
Award for the number of upvotes
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP