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> > 16. If you let a 100g strawberry that is 99% water by mass dehydrate such that the water now accounts for 98% of the total mass then its new mass is 50g: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_paradox

>I really like this one. It's a perfect combo of intuitive from one perspective and mind bending from another.

Comes up a lot lately because of vaccine effectiveness e.g. 95% is twice as effective as 90%.



It's probably more intuitive if you say that it's "half as ineffective"


I first saw this in a discussion of power supply efficiency. A 95% efficient supply generates ~half the heat that a 90% one does.


Wait, how is 95% effective twice as effective as 90%?


just as going from 98% effectiveness to 99% effectiveness halves your risk (you go from 2% chance of falling ill to 1%)

its a common concept in games in which armor follows a linear formula (each point of armor is more effective than the last when calculating effective health)


Then there's the polynomial wizard.


90% is 1 in 10, 95% is 1 in 20.


It halves your risk.


and sunscreen (SPF) calculations...




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