Please understand, setting personal opinions aside, the Democratic Primary race makes politics exciting again.  After this latest primary, you don't even have to open a newspaper or delve deeply into most websites before being inundated with articles about Barack and Hillary.  The articles range from simply reporting on the "news" to analysts dissecting the minutia of the results by every demographic conceivable.  One point that all of these articles from the supposedly impartial press seem to agree on was that Hillary beat Barack by 10 points.  Just to make my case, here are just a couple quotes:

 "Clinton's scored a decisive win in Pennsylvania Tuesday, beating Obama by 10 points" - CNN

"In a round of morning television interviews, Clinton argued that her feisty act of political survival, defeating Barack Obama in Pennsylvania by 10 points..." - AP

Most people accept the quotes as gospel and why shouldn't they, it was in the paper or on the news.  The 10 point difference also has a great deal of significance built into it.  Many in the political machine stated that Hillary needed a double digit win in order to stay in the race.  Hillary even supported this 10 point amount:

"I won that double-digit victory that everybody on TV said I had to win" - Hillary Clinton

Do the math

Just one little detail all of these math wizards have missed is that Hillary did not win by 10 points.  Even with rounding of the end result she did not win by 10 points.  It's been a while since most of us have taken a basic math course, however we all can handle this (just don't ask me to balance a check book).

Directly from the Official State of Pennsylvania's Election Results Website:

When does 9.2% turn into 10%.  It would be great if this type of new math could be used in our everyday life:

Hmmm, I just received this check for $9.20 and $10 get's deposited for me instead

Well, I know that I only paid for hamburger, but give me the steak, the price is close enough

You get the idea.  But, the politicos needed 10 points, so they do some creative rounding and they get it.  They also get to use phases like "double digit", "substantial", "overwhelming". They get to keep the excitement level up and potentially sway the undecided to keep the race going.  Looks like they get to invent new mathematical principles in the process.

The difference between 9.2 and 10 is a small one in some situations and a gaping hole in others.  When does convenience begin to outweigh facts?  What a difference .8% makes...

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written by Steve , April 23, 2008

With the site you pointed to reporting 99.51% of the vote:

((1238232-1030703)*100)/(1238232+1030703) = 9.146537913161902

Rounded to two digits it's actually 9.1% at this time

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written by Germ Warrior , April 24, 2008

What's .1% between friends Seriously though, when you really take a few minutes to examine the raw data, the difference is even larger and the political motivation is even more questionable.

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