I hope Clarckson read this in the News:

Whappeh

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'Cool Cash' card confusion
Ciara Leeming
3/11/2007

A LOTTERY scratchcard has been withdrawn from sale by Camelot - because players couldn't understand it. The Cool Cash game - launched on Monday - was taken out of shops yesterday after some players failed to grasp whether or not they had won.

To qualify for a prize, users had to scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card. As the game had a winter theme, the temperature was usually below freezing. But the concept of comparing negative numbers proved too difficult for some Camelot received dozens of complaints on the first day from players who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.

Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards. The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't.

"I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I'm not having it.


"I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled."

A Camelot spokeswoman said the game was withdrawn after reports that some players had not understood the concept. She said: "The instructions for playing the Cool Cash scratchcard are clear - and are printed on each individual card and in the game procedures available at each retailer. However, because of the potential for player confusion we have decided to withdraw the game."

More than 15m adults in Britain have poor numeracy - the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE maths. Almost three times as many UK adults (15.1m) have poor numeracy - the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE maths - than with poor literacy skills, according to the government's Skills for Life survey.

Peter Hall, of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, said: "The concept of minus numbers is something we would cover with 11 or 12 year olds, and we would expect them to have come across it before. The concept of smaller numbers is something that some people do seem to struggle with. Seven is clearly smaller than eight, so they focus on that and don't really see the minus sign. There is also a subtle difference in language between smaller - or lower - and colder. The number zero feels lower.

"There have always been some people who find numbers and basic mathematics difficult. Maybe in the past it was less noticeable because people could find jobs they could excel in without having qualifications in maths."

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1022757_cool_cash_card_confusion

:( I think the Western world is nearing collapse.
 
Don't worry. It was only in Manchester. No surprise. :p:p
 
Blonde joke following in T minus 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...

:idiot: It goes t-minus 9, 8, 7, 6, 5... :p

Bin Laden doesn't need to bomb the western world to destroy it. It's going to implode in on itself in a few generations of stupid people.
 
:idiot: It goes t-minus 9, 8, 7, 6, 5... :p
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke
whistling.gif
 
You fail to see the upside of all this. Only a few more years and you can pay off personal debt by making more debt. I for one welcome the western worlds degrading math skills. :D
 
If it gets worse everyone won't be even able to spell Clarckson!


;)
 
If it gets worse everyone won't be even able to spell Clarckson!


;)

I can't help it, after nearly a decade of interneting, my fingers work faster then my brain. Its not a good situation to be involved in, but I can type so fast!
 
it makes me hang my head in shame that somehow I may be associated with these retards!!
 
Damnit no wonder everythings we have global warming, if they can not understand a lottery game, then they will believe anything.
 
^Well you know Oz is a whole day behind you...... or is that in front of you? How does this bloody Date Line thing work again, is it plus or minus.

Time is relative for a country that sleeps all day.


;) :wicked:
 
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