Something I don't understand about the numbers between Edwards and Clinton...

[Sparkly]

Earlier, there was a 10+ vote spread between them, and the percentages were 30%/30%.

Right now, with 99% reporting, there's an 8 vote difference, but the percentages are 30%/29%.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21229206

Can somebody explain this to me? (Obviously I'm not a math major!! :dunce:)

[yourout]

1. Rounding.

[Sparkly]

2. But wouldn't the percentage now be closer, making the 29% round to 30%? nt

[TwilightZone]

3. Nope, here are the current numbers.

Senator John Edwards : 29.79%
Senator Hillary Clinton : 29.48%

John's rounds up; Hillary's rounds down.

http://www.iowacaucusresults.com/

[Sparkly]

5. Ah...

I guess it has to do with the votes for the lower-down candidates.

:dunce:

[TwilightZone]

7. Well, the extended decimal points definitely help.

A lot of the sites were rounding them and not showing the detail.

[yourout]

4. at one point it was like 30.45 to 29.65 which rounds to 30/30

The final ended up 29.78 to 29.47 which rounds to 30/29 even though the spread was closer.

[Sparkly]

6. Gotcha -- the msnbc site wasn't showing the decimal numbers. nt