i have a problem with people, especially those who are the technical fields and those who report on technical things, when they tout that something new is "10 times faster" than the original.
let's take the next generation of usb speed, for instance. it is speculated that after usb 2, the generation of usb devices will perform a 4800 kbps, as opposed to 480 kbps for usb 2. here's my problem. tech people are saying that this is 10 times "faster" when in fact it is 10 times "as fast".
there is a difference. let's take an example. if i travel 10 miles at the rate of 10 miles per hour, i would have arrived in 1 hour. another person covers the same distance in 10 hours traveling at a much slower pace of 1 mile per hour. in this case, i would have arrived 9 hours earlier, not 10. substitute "faster" for "earlier" it makes a lot of sense. to say it the other way, i would have traveled 10 times as fast, not 10 times faster.
10 times faster than 1 mile per hour is actually 11 miles per hour.
to put it yet another way, we commonly hear that something is "twice as fast" as something else. you would have no trouble figuring out that if i traveled at 5 miles per hour, twice as fast is 10 miles per hour. notice that hardly anyone says "two times faster".
the same concept applies for "more" vs "as much". just ask yourself if you would rather have twice as much as your current salary or two times more. example: i make $1 an hour. making twice as much is making $2 an hour whereas making two times more would imply 2 times more than the original.
original = $1.
two times original = $2.
two times more than original <=> two times original + original <=> $2 + $1 = $3.
so think about the terms you should be using the next time you have a comparison such as this. i can only say that technical people should know better and people who report on tech issues should know as well.
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