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How to read: 20%/30% of adults go to the festivals? 20 percent breaks on 30 percent of adults go to the festivals?

Laurel
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Marta Agnieszka Sroczyńska
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    Here, 'Twenty to thirty percent ...'. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 23 '18 at 19:40
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    I've never seen a slash used like that. "20%-30%" or "20-30%" is much preferable. – swbarnes2 Jan 23 '18 at 20:16
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    I'd say 20 or 30%. – KarlG Jan 23 '18 at 21:17
  • @KarlG Pragmatically far from likely. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 23 '18 at 21:37
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    Pragmatically, maybe; but as a slash generally means "or", all it means is that it is entirely the wrong mark to use here. – Andrew Leach Jan 23 '18 at 21:58
  • Please don't be confused by the numbers. With words the formation "this / that" is so common, it's often pronounced "this slash that" isn't it? Just because it's sloppy enough with words and very much more sloppy with numbers shouldn't stop it meaning roughly, "this or that" or here, "20 or 30%". – Robbie Goodwin Feb 06 '18 at 23:37
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    @EdwinAshworth Pragmatically absolutely likely. Or in the sense of ‘to’ is perfectly common when used between two numbers. Writing it with a slash is unusual, but there’s nothing unusual about the sentence “twenty or thirty per cent of adults go to festivals” (even if it’s probably not true), any more than there is anything unusual about “she just arrived five or ten minutes ago”. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 22 '18 at 23:53
  • Conceptually, I'd read it as "twenty or thirty percent", meaning that the rough estimate is in the range from 20% to 30%. Don't overthink it. – Hot Licks Mar 24 '18 at 22:43
  • Of course, a literalist would read it as 0.20/0.30 = 66.6%. – Hot Licks Mar 24 '18 at 22:45

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If the range is inclusive, meaning somewhere between 20% and 30%, it is usually stated, "20 to 30 percent of adults attend the festival." or "Adults attend the festival at a rate between 20 and 30 percent."

htm11h
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