Math For Journalists

Reporting with Numbers

1) A local college releases figures showing that its total budget is $120 million. Of that total, $80 million comes from the state, $6 million from student tuition, and the remaining $34 million from fees, grants and gifts.

Percentages:
State-67%
Student Tuition-5%
Grants/Gifts-28%

The most significant funding source is from the state which is more than half the total. Next are grants and gifts given to the school as well as fees. The student tuition barely makes notice in the college’s budget, it is only one-twentieth of the total.

The budget at a local college shows that the majority of funding comes from the state and less then half of that comes from fees, grants, and gifts. Only a small 5 percent is paid from student tuition.


2) Your editor assigns you to do a story about prison sentences handed down in cases of aggravated assault. He gives you the following figures from an anti-crime group that is lobbying for tougher sentencing guidelines. The cases represent the people convicted for aggravated assault in San Jose in one month in 2006.

Average prison term for people convicted of aggravated assault: 22 months
Median prison term for people convicted of aggravated assault: 12 months

The median is the most accurate description of prison terms because the mean can be misleading. With 84 months as the longest term and 8 months as the shortest it shows a somewhat extreme difference. The median is the halfway point, which would define the prison term better.


Name
Sentence
Donald Lee
1 year prison, 2 years probation
Richard Smith
1 year prison, 1 year probation
Wesley Mitchell
14 months prison, 1 year probation
Mary Jones
1 year prison, 1 year probation
Juan Rodriguez
1 year prison, 2 years probation
Harold Rothstein
8 months prison, 1 year probation
Michael Reese
7 years prison, 5 years probation

3) The state legislature is considering exempting restaurant food sales from the sales tax in the same way grocery sales are exempt.

CA sales tax= 7.25

$5 dollars per meal
If patrons ate out once a week for a year without sales tax it would cost 260$.
If the sales tax was still implemented it would cost 278.72$
Without tax patrons save 18.72$

$20 dollars per meal
If patrons ate out once a week for a year without sales tax it would cost 1040$
If sales tax was still implemented it would cost 1115.40$
Without tax patrons save 75.40$