Monday, September 27, 2010

McGill Math Sucks, part II

McGill's student newspaper has headline: Quebec Tuition Increasing Faster than National Average.  But the numbers that come with the article belie the headline just a bit.

The lighter gray is for 2009-2010 and the darker is for 2010-2011.  It is easier to have a high growth rate when the initial value is low: % change is equal to (t2-t1)/t1.  So, the smaller the original value, the higher the percentage of change will be.  The absolute value of the change in tuition is still very small, but the % seems like a lot.  Right now, the yearly cost of tuition at McGill is about 2 HDTV's.  Not cheap, but not outrageous either.

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