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Duke professors challenge term "miles per gallon"
The News & Observer (NC) ^ | June 19, 2008 | Eric Ferreri

Posted on 06/19/2008 11:50:26 AM PDT by MaestroLC

Some Duke professors are challenging the conventional "miles per gallon" terminology employed by the automobile industry.

Researchers with Duke's Fuqua School of Business say that posting a vehicle's fuel efficiency in "gallons per mile" rather than "miles per gallon" would help motorists make better decisions when buying a new car.

The study will appear in the June 20 issue of Science magazine. It was inspired by a debate professors Richard Larrick and Jack Soll had while carpooling in a hybrid car, according to a Duke press release.

The two management professors ran experiments showing current "miles per gallon" terminology led consumers to think fuel consumption goes down at an even rate as efficiency improves.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: academia; duke; energy; gallon; gas; professors
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1 posted on 06/19/2008 11:50:26 AM PDT by MaestroLC
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To: MaestroLC

How about “furlongs per quid” instead?............


2 posted on 06/19/2008 11:52:09 AM PDT by Red Badger (NOBODY MOVE!!!!.......I dropped me brain............................)
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To: MaestroLC

“It was inspired by a debate professors Richard Larrick and Jack Soll had while carpooling in a hybrid car.”

The all-Steisand station on XM must have been on the fritz that day


3 posted on 06/19/2008 11:53:45 AM PDT by wilco200 (Typical White Person)
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To: MaestroLC

“It was inspired by a debate professors Richard Larrick and Jack Soll had while carpooling in a hybrid car,...”

Well, that guarantees the idea is good. While they are at it, they should say the fuel use should be expressed in metric system format too. We all know how conversant Americans are with that. How about expressing horsepower in kilograms or joules too.


4 posted on 06/19/2008 11:54:51 AM PDT by RicocheT
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To: MaestroLC

Management profs, eh? Figures. Same type of clowns who have destroyed Detroit, sent all of our electronics production overseas, and still can’t pass an elementary math course.


5 posted on 06/19/2008 11:55:30 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: MaestroLC

Wouldn’t you have to convince people that smaller numbers are better? I’d guess people have a natural tendency to prefer bigger numbers.


6 posted on 06/19/2008 11:55:38 AM PDT by conejo99
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To: MaestroLC
"Brainless creatures composed almost entirely of water..."
7 posted on 06/19/2008 11:55:40 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: MaestroLC
Can't someone transfer one ratio to the other with basic some math?
8 posted on 06/19/2008 11:55:41 AM PDT by Borges
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To: MaestroLC

Hmmm, so two college professors want to turn a well-known number upside down. That will confuse people quite nicely, though all it will do is turn a number like 25 into 4%. Nothing else changed.

Quite the liberal solution: do nothing except confuse every ordinary person.


9 posted on 06/19/2008 11:55:47 AM PDT by BelegStrongbow (what part of 'mias gunaikos andra' do Episcopalians not understand?)
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To: MaestroLC

So my car uses .026 gallons per mile on the highway.

If I could only get that down to .020.

They must be tenured professors.


10 posted on 06/19/2008 11:57:38 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: MaestroLC

I suppose this is at least a little better than falsely accusing lacrosse players of rape.


11 posted on 06/19/2008 11:57:57 AM PDT by jpl ("Don't tell me words don't matter." - Barack Obama, via Deval Patrick)
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To: MaestroLC

12 posted on 06/19/2008 11:58:04 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: MaestroLC

You know, I like the sound of Teeter-Harris better than Harris-Teeter.

Perhaps I should ask these two professors?


13 posted on 06/19/2008 11:58:11 AM PDT by RexBeach
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To: MaestroLC

Because saying 0.03333 gallons per mile is just sooooo much easier to say!

Do these people have a brain extraction done at their tenure hearing?


14 posted on 06/19/2008 11:58:18 AM PDT by ex 98C MI Dude (All of my hate cannot be found, I will not be drowned by your constant scheming)
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To: Borges

Who teaches math these days?

There’s no time between teaching Secular Humanism and putting condoms on cucumbers.

The obviously weren’t math professors, the thought of inverting the ratio so that it would be clearer wouldn’t even have occurred to someone with a logically trained brain.


15 posted on 06/19/2008 11:58:41 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: MaestroLC

Leave it to a bunch of liberals, when things get tough, to rearrange the deck chairs.


16 posted on 06/19/2008 11:58:57 AM PDT by fish hawk (Silence is often misinterpreted but never misquoted.)
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To: MaestroLC

“30 mpg” sure sounds better then “.033 gpm”


17 posted on 06/19/2008 12:00:43 PM PDT by Michael.SF. ("They're not Americans. They're liberals! "-- Ann Coulter, May 15, 2008)
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To: MaestroLC

I’m speechless.


18 posted on 06/19/2008 12:02:01 PM PDT by American Quilter (John McCain--today's Scoop Jackson democrat. He should change parties.)
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To: MaestroLC

I prefer hours of operation per pound of fuel.


19 posted on 06/19/2008 12:03:29 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Mossad!)
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To: ex 98C MI Dude
Because saying 0.03333 gallons per mile is just sooooo much easier to say!

Or, 3.33E-2 gal/mile. That's easy to remember!

20 posted on 06/19/2008 12:03:51 PM PDT by 6SJ7
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