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Percentages (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 33 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I play video games; I need to know if the percentage is additive or multiplicative.

"+100%" looks pretty good until you see what "×25%" actually gives you.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 weeks ago

×25% gives you 1/4 the original value, whereas +100% is double the original value, let's say 8/4 to keep it consistent. ×125% (in case a 1 is missing) is still only 5/4 the original value.

Is there a typo in your comment?

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

In video games they commonly use that to mean they are multiplying by 25. We know it's not correct in stats. This is why game wikis commonly put the actual formula for things rather than the tooltip the developers wrote.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 13 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Biggest lie in a game's tooltip/description of an item was how the formula for Armor Piercing rounds in Fallout 1 and 2 was bad, so instead of being stronger than regular rounds, they were weaker.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Games use x25% or x25? Technically the first divides the score by 4.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world -2 points 3 weeks ago

We are aware of what it actually does mathematically. Please re-read what I wrote.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I was asking for clarification. Do many games really add the % to x25?

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yes. Just off the top of my head, I see any kind of Diablo-like game doing it a lot. Shows everything as a percentage, but some items are just adding that number (not a percentage) or multiplying the number (also not a percentage). It's like they just treat the % as meaning "alters number in mysterious ways."

Warframe has a mod card will say like +200% but you don't want that one, because it's adding, while there is a multiplying one that will say +4, and it's just multiplying it by 4 instead of the +200% which is only adding twice as much to the base value. If you had 100, the +200% thing gives 300. But the +4 is 400. And the way this is displayed in the game does not make sense so you'll always think the +200% is better unless you check the wiki (or put it on your gun and play around with it).

[-] Sas@beehaw.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

I feel they might've left something out. If you're at base value still an additive 100% increase (1+1=2) is better than a multiplicative 25% (1×1.25=1.25) increase but in games where bonuses stack another additive 100% increase would raise the effective value by 50% instead (1+1+1=3) whereas another multiplicative 25% would still raise the total by that much (1×1.25×1.25=1.56) so if you're stacking a lot of bonuses, eventually the multplicative ones are more effective. As for how many steps it would take to be equal in our example... 1+1×X=1×1.25^X I'm not gonna do this in my bed on my phone but that equation should already tell you that the right side grows faster when X -> infinity