This week’s NYT magazine article by ELIZABETH GREEN is enlightening. While the article addresses several serious issues, it also includes a
comic gem:
“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.”