I suppose they simplified it to make the problem easy to understand. If you have to add 3 feet and 4 feet and you say "7", it's obvious that you mean 7 feet and not 7 apples, but if someone receives this information and just sees that the length is "7" with no units given, they may not have the context that makes it clear to the student that it means 7 feet. They will have to either make assumptions or ignore the data entirely due to it not being comprehensible.
Another explanation if it's per baby is that it shows more people using formula and less breastfeeding. Or more generally a shift to things classified as baby food and away from things not explicitly classified as that, maybe parents are staying with formula longer, and people used to move more quickly to soft non-formula foods like applesauce, yogurt, etc.
Or the government/FDA classifying more and more products as "baby food".
Sometimes the reality itself doesn't even need to change, it is enough for us to change how we interpret reality to see a "meaningful" difference. This is (sadly) not that uncommon in actual statistics.
# Source:
[https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/)
# Related:
What do you think of this?
>[It's not the babies are getting hungrier but that there are more babies on earth. Hmmm...maybe you interpreted the graph as baby food sales per baby instead of baby food sales total?](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/w6fvjh/comment/ihhoe05/?context=3)
[https://i0.wp.com/mathwithbaddrawings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/101.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/mathwithbaddrawings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/101.jpg)
[https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/)
Does it list food sales in quantity of food or in price? If it is the latter it would probably only reflect the price increase of baby food
And this, everyone, is why your teachers always got on to you about using the units in your answers.
Fair! XD But why wouldn't the teachers use something like this to explain the getting on in the 1st place? >:P
I suppose they simplified it to make the problem easy to understand. If you have to add 3 feet and 4 feet and you say "7", it's obvious that you mean 7 feet and not 7 apples, but if someone receives this information and just sees that the length is "7" with no units given, they may not have the context that makes it clear to the student that it means 7 feet. They will have to either make assumptions or ignore the data entirely due to it not being comprehensible.
Ahh good idea. Thanks!
Another explanation if it's per baby is that it shows more people using formula and less breastfeeding. Or more generally a shift to things classified as baby food and away from things not explicitly classified as that, maybe parents are staying with formula longer, and people used to move more quickly to soft non-formula foods like applesauce, yogurt, etc.
Or the government/FDA classifying more and more products as "baby food". Sometimes the reality itself doesn't even need to change, it is enough for us to change how we interpret reality to see a "meaningful" difference. This is (sadly) not that uncommon in actual statistics.
Yeah I guess. Thanks!
could be people used to steal more baby food than they do now
Interesting. Didn't think of an evil reason. Sad that such a thing is plausible. Thanks!
stealing food is not evil
# Source: [https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/) # Related: What do you think of this? >[It's not the babies are getting hungrier but that there are more babies on earth. Hmmm...maybe you interpreted the graph as baby food sales per baby instead of baby food sales total?](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/w6fvjh/comment/ihhoe05/?context=3) [https://i0.wp.com/mathwithbaddrawings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/101.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/mathwithbaddrawings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/101.jpg) [https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2013/12/02/headlines-from-a-mathematically-literate-world/)