The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Math Lesson

The articles in Thursday's Southern Illinoisan and Friday's Daily Egyptian about the four top administrators to receive pay hikes illustrates a common math error and provides the opportunity for a math lesson. When you calculate a percentage change, you take the difference between the original and the new number and then divide that figure by the original number, not the new number. For example, Kowalczyk's salary increase is $30,480. This number should have been divided by his old salary, $121,920, not his new one of $152,400. Doing the formula the correct way gives us 25 percent. Just for practice, let's do a second one. Take Sue Davis' salary increase of $18,000 and divide it by her old salary of $87,000, not her new one of $105,000. This division gives us 20.6 percent. This is a common error when people calculate percentage change.

Sue Kohler

associate director, Office of Economic and Regional Development

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