Relative to What?

Be careful when you see percentages.

For example, from one point of view, no one reads the articles I write. If we calculate the percentage of visitors to my site on any given day relative to Earth’s population (or heck, relative to the US population), the answer is 0. Always, every day. Mathematical truth. Zero.

However, if we calculate the percentage relative to people that I know or care about, that answer is not zero. It might even be something healthy like 25%.

Percentage is relative.

No matter what team you’re on, you can use percentages to make your point.

Therefore, “Relative to what?” is never a dumb question.