[Purrybonker]

I have the odd PhD hanging the wall but I must still be on something of a learning curve - and I welcome that!

We have this "times less" phrase being very popular in advertising media.

"This doodad is 40 times less expensive than that doodad".

I don't get the "math" here.

"times more" is easy. An apple has 120 calories say - thereby 4 apples have 4 times as many calories as one apple.

So the seller of four apples, hoping to attract the calorie desiring crowd can rightly claim that his four apple product has 4 times the calories of a one apple product.

Ergo 120 x 4 = 480. Logical math.

But what does "times less" mean in this context?

So, if you're advertising the virtues of one apple vs four apples what is the math that allows the expression "4 times less calories than 4 apples"?

Ergo -4 x 480 = -2040. Illogical math. Negative calories?

Or, even more accurately? The "less calories" = 360 (480-120).

Ergo -4 x 360 = -1440. Still illogical.

I mean, if an advertiser claims that item "A" is 20% less expensive than item "B" - I can extrapolate that.

But when an advertiser claims that item "A" is 4 times less expensive than item "B" - I have no information to work with.

In any possible, logical event the "times less" expression seems to make zero sense.

Do I have a major mental block here? Or am I the only one pedantic enough to see this as a major societal issue?