Before Doug Robinson again tries to foster the impression that he has mastered the mathematics of sports-figure fines (Jan. 20), he should seriously consider a brief return to grade school to review the fundamental difference between percentages and decimal fractions.
His inexcusable misuse of "percent" in his column produced the (incorrect) claim that $7,500 is ".00047619 percent of [Karl Malone's] salary." It may seem like a clever way to make an arguably legitimate point, but the fact that it is wrong by a factor of 100 detracts from the author's credibility to convince anyone.
As any reasonably accomplished sixth-grade student could tell Mr. Robinson, a fine of $7,500 is .047619 percent of Mr. Malone's estimated annual salary; $7,500 is .00047619 times the Mailman's salary.
And where were the copy-readers when this story went through? Did they skip math class that year also?
Gary G. Sackett
Salt Lake City