_page 6, April 12, 1978 - North Shore News The world being in its usual mess, it’s only [ natural that honest, hard-working, clean-living | citizens like ourselves are continually trying to find | out who or what is to blame. Favourite scapegoats . include permissiveness, pot, The Pill, petroleum . and politicians in general -- but actually the answer is much simpler. The true ° villains responsible for our confusion are the mathema- ticians and their next-of-kin, the statisticians: Don’t think for a moment that I’m knocking Albert ‘Einstein, who confined him-. self to such harmless math-. ematical exercises as devel-- oping the theory of relativity, which gave us an exciting new picture of the universe. « Einstein was smart enough © to figure out that two and two’ don’t always _ necessarily . make four. The millions of professional and amateur. mathematicians who domi- nate our lives today haven’t yet got around to that vitai ._lesson. What’s worse, they’ve meanwhile invented _ computers and = calculators | that pour forth wrong answets to two-plus-two at the-speed of light... | As everyone knows, you can’t argue with digits, especially when |. they’ve_ spewed, out of an IBM 3600. - So we go ‘on reading the _ wrong answers everytime we , open a newspaper, tug our forelocks respectfully and act accordingly. No wonder we’re in the glue. Three cases in point from “the past couple of weeks. FLAWLESS MATH . Dennis McDermott, the new president of the Cana- dian Labor Congress, has come up with a great idea to combat unemployment. The CLC is launching a campaign for a 32-hour week, the theory being that this will open up vacancies for Canada’s present million-. plus jobless. Mathematically, the idea is flawless. work-week ranges, average, between 35 and 40 hours. The unemployed are getting uncomfortably close to 10 per cent. So reduce everyone’s, weekly working hours by 10-20 per cent and bingo! -- no more unemploy- ment. The “only snag in Mr. McDermott’s scheme is that “who, in the ‘there wouldn’t have’ been . any unemployment problem in the first place. Ce 1 The present. on an. re Besa, CART LA IE APS ERPS ISIN DS SEE TAPERED Soe WT Ne TRL EPI RET Eee Ee BE SE SE RR TST AINE AEM es tet ERS Be ACE 8) A Mo # he wants the 32-hour week without loss of pay. In other | words, you would work 32 ‘hours .for the same -take- | home packet as you now get for slaving away 35-40 hours. | My own primitive math a | telis “me ° that Mir. means a 10-20 per cent pay. 10-20 per cent less produc- . tivity from them at the same cost. _ for.-money to pay - the. presently jobless workers McDermott oe scenario, would take up the extra three to eight hours a. week is quite beyond the , capability of my $19 pocket. calculator. Presumably if employers had that kind of spare cash lying around, UNDECIDED Earlier this month the . headlines announced that the’ latest Gallup Poll showed the Liberals leading the Conser- vatives by 45 per cent- to 34 per cent among~™ decided voters. . . In fairness, Gallup also. stresses that the percentage of undecided voters (38 per cent) was exceptionally high. per. cent. of decideds being split’ betweent -the - NDP, ‘Social Credit and others. me Nevertheless, ‘it’s the _**45-34 per cent’’. Liberai-to- ~ Conservative -McDermott’s. idea simply — hike “ for. those already — employed or, alternatively, 2 se ‘minda. In . SRSRALUES 6 ak rating as adjusted .by. Gallup that sticks in most. people’s antual fant tho VUE AGEL, LEE Conservatives need to win only a little over half of the 38 per cent. undecideds to form the next government. ¥ _ Incidentally, the Gallup Poll is based on interviews © What employers would use -. With exactly * 1,038 Canadians over the age of 18.. In a nation: of. almost 23 million that represents (wait for it!) .0045 of one per cent > This» of the population. In order to get figures pg | comparable with the last § therefore, ‘§ election results, the poll parcels out the undecideds among the parties in the same propor- tion as the decideds. If you’re undecided, : it seems to this simple mind that you’re undecided. On ij: that basis the true figures were: Liberals 28 per cent (not 45), Conservatives 21 per cent (not 34), undecided 38 per cent -- for total of 87 per cent. The reraaining 13 & ‘Your Own Park’ For sale by original owner, walking distance to Park Royal and minutes to downtown Vancouver. Beautiful, low level custom built contemporary 3 bdrm split level home on 64 x 130 well treed private tot. Two concrete patios, hand split rock walls, custom decor and w/w throughout. Extra large ‘win flue feature fireplace; also fireplace in rec room. Low vaultod callings, tlle work etc. A vory bright, spacious doluxo N.V. home $79,900. For viewing appointment, call 997-5411. Three locations Lonsdale Branch 1100 Lonsdale Ave. 986-4321 * Trusteed by: Co-operative Trust Company of Canada ‘miniscule | i into - “scientific sample’’ is also subdivided . - Numerous different categories -- by sex, age ‘group, size. of community and so forth. 3 | With all due respect to Dr. Gallup, it does. make one wonder whether the views of. the one-armed . window cleaner with a B.A. and 13 children in Moose Jaw were included. in the figures. There must.be.a good many. more. that 1,038 ‘individual - kinds of voter in this country. — _ STICK WITH LOTO As to the highly emotional | annual . topic - of the | Newfoundland seal hunt, it all depends on whether you listen to Greenpeace, study last month’s public opinion quiz by Weekend Magazine or prefer to trust yet another Gallup poll taken about the’. same time (again using the standard 1,038 interviews). . : Greenpeace will tell you: ‘flatly:that 75 per cent of all- Now is the time to think about financial needs for the summer. Your plans may include a sailboat, a motor boat, a canoe, a new car, aset o Summer cottage. | Our rates are very competitive. Plan ahead - whether you need a loan or some expert advice, we’re always happy to see you. : in North Vancouver: f golf clubs, or that new ‘North Shore Comm Credit Union Canadians condemn the seal ‘The Weekend Magazine — : found that 5Z-per cent: | of Can e A liquor store on wheels is “not everyman’s idea of of Canadians want to ban the hunt, only 24 per cent think it: should continue and 18 per cent are undecided. Gallup, | on the other hand, .found a. ‘mere 35 per cent in favor of a ban, 51 per cent saying’ the’ should. be allowed to go on and 14 per cent in the ‘‘don’t . know’’ category. . ose _ With people playing the. numbers game like this on: conceivable | public. every. va issue you simply can’t win. Nowadays, if you’re- deter- mined tobase your opinions about serious questions on mathematics and _ statistics, you might just as well stick with the serial number on your Loto Canada ticket. ~ Nobody put it better than that eminent Greek’ philos- opher Plato 2,400 years ago, when he said: *‘I have hardly _ever known a mathematician _who was capable of reason- ing.” CC S SN Marine Drive Branch. 1080 Marine Dr. - 986-1116 . ‘ heaven. Times. Square Develop- _ ments Ltd. had earlier asked -West Van‘ council to: allow a. -§0-foot trailer to be parked on the Safeway parking lot at. 16th St. and” Bellevue ‘to serve as a temporary liquor _ store during construction of a commercial centre. ~~ Council | postponed ~ their decision for a week to find — out if the small bakery and a ervcleaning store would ob- wa 7 wawecsasas cw _ject to having the portable | potables parked in front of them. a Last week council “tabled the matter again when it was learned that Times. Square’ liad decided. to. locate the temporary liquor store in one. of. the stores.in the: Safeway complex. No. report ‘was given on the opinion -of the bakery and drycleaning store — about booze on. their ‘doorstep. unity — Lynn Valley Branch | 1247 Ross Road. 980-6556