Math time!

S

stripes

New member
Okay forum, here's a math question for you. Ex and I are arguing about how to round our S7 ratios to the nearest half-percentage point. (Yes, I know this is completely ridiculous, but it is very very very important to the ex).

Here's an example (numbers changed slightly):

Our incomes are in a ratio of 64.4152% to 35.5842% How would you round these figures to the nearest .5%?

Just curious as to how others would calculate this.
 
64.0 and 36.0 which is accurate to the rounding rules. 64.41 rounds down to 64 because the digit after the 6.4 is less than 5 and 35.58 rounds up to 36 because the digit after the 36.5 is more than 5.
 
stripes said:
Okay forum, here's a math question for you. Ex and I are arguing about how to round our S7 ratios to the nearest half-percentage point. (Yes, I know this is completely ridiculous, but it is very very very important to the ex).

Here's an example (numbers changed slightly):

Our incomes are in a ratio of % to 35.5842% How would you round these figures to the nearest .5%?

Just curious as to how others would calculate this.
Click to expand...

to me the 64.4152 would be 64.4 and the other would be 35.6.

try this website
Rounding Worksheets | Rounding Worksheets for Practice

or this one
http://www.math-aids.com/Rounding/
 
Last edited:
rockscan said:
64.4 and 35.6 according to my grade school math...

Stripes your ex is a bit of tool yes?
Click to expand...

Uh, yeah, sort of. He's one of those pompous asses who is always sure he's the smartest person in the room. He used to send me long rants about legal issues, full of misused technical terms, which I think were supposed to intimidate me. (In the midst of arguing about equalization, he informed me that if I did not accede to his wishes, he "would be forced to file a motion to remove [my] legal standing in front of the courts". I still have no idea what that was supposed to mean).

Anyway, with the math, I got OntarioDaddy's result and ex got YoungDad's result, which I suppose means there is more than one possible answer.

I've suggested a compromise: we split S7 64/36. At the end of the year, we calculate how much .5% of Kid's S7 would be, and I put that amount into her RESP. That way I am out of pocket for the equivalent of 64.5% of S7 and he is out of pocket 36% of S7. Neither of us gets exactly the solution we want, but we both get a solution we can live with, and in the end, Kid benefits from the money. I doubt he will go for this, but at least I tried for a reasonable compromise.

(BTW the numbers I gave aren't the real ones).
 
The total amount of money in play here is maybe $100 at the absolute most (the difference between a 64/36 split and a 64.5/35.5 split). Total annual S7 expenses for Kid have never yet topped $8000, so half of one percent of that ... When I was writing our divorce order, I never imagined I'd wish I had specified the number of decimal places to which amounts would be calculated. It seems obvious to me that you use full numbers. But what was obvious to me was not obvious to the ex.
 
I hear you! Currently working with lawyers because my daughters ex is arguing over $290. His lawyer bills out at $450/ hr and we just sent him a 8 page letter of calculations proving he in fact does owe the money.

So he requested her to provide the proof so she did. Her spreadsheet and financial analysis of incomes and daycare fees was free. As I did it.

Makes no sense really. But such is family law. It would be interesting to know how much parents spend on lawyers versus how much they spend on the children. The amount lots of separated parents spend often equals a year of university. But then no doubt that will be a whole different battle in 12 years!
 
Since the difference is so small, perhaps ask your ex if he would prefer to simply round to the nearest whole number as it appears that's what he did. Orders can have different interpretations, but math should only have one answer.
 
It was me that was rounding to the nearest whole number - ex wanted to use half percentages. The dollar amount is so small that I would be tempted to say "okay, fine, we'll use your numbers", but I know from experience that doing so would invite even more weird calculations and plans to get more money out of me - because if I "give in" to this one, maybe I'll "give in" to lots of other strategies. So I try to find solutions in which neither party "wins" or "loses" (except in cases where there's really obviously only one possible interpretation, such as a recent battle over the AED).
 
I can understand how frustrating it must be. Ex is asking to round to nearest half percent, which makes it more complicated already. Then when you do, they go back to whole numbers.

Maybe just truncate the decimals and avoid any rounding debate.
 
Just got the expected ranting email back from the ex, about how the way I round off decimal places "violates the basic principles of Canadian federal law" and puts me in grave jeopardy of an unspecified sort. It's so over-the-top pompous that I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.
 
^^ laugh. I'm interested though in knowing his thoughts behind how the math above violates the basic principles of federal law, lol. You'll have to update if he ever reveals that info to you.

fwiw, I would have calculated as per OntarioDaddy.

You could ask him if he wants to follow the rounding-up/down strategy that Rev Can promoted when we phased the penny? See the Rev Can link below - do these numbers, if applied to your percentage, work to your favor or his? [although I recognize, adding another path in the discussion might make it even more contentious];

Phasing out the penny
 
Don't you have any sort of precedent from previous years that you can just follow?

Some days I really love my 100% s7 proportion.
 
mcdreamy said:
^^ laugh. I'm interested though in knowing his thoughts behind how the math above violates the basic principles of federal law, lol. You'll have to update if he ever reveals that info to you.

fwiw, I would have calculated as per OntarioDaddy.

You could ask him if he wants to follow the rounding-up/down strategy that Rev Can promoted when we phased the penny? See the Rev Can link below - do these numbers, if applied to your percentage, work to your favor or his? [although I recognize, adding another path in the discussion might make it even more contentious];

Phasing out the penny
Click to expand...

Mcdreamy, you can only imagine how much fun it was dealing with Captain Logic over equalization. I told my bf about the "violating the principles of Canadian federal law" bit and he suggested I tell the ex to call Justin Trudeau - never mind Bill C-51, grade five math is the true enemy of Canadian freedoms!

This one goes in the scrapbook, along with the convoluted reasoning for why I should give him half my tax refund, the S7 claim for a Halloween costume and a haircut, and the retroactive invoice for $48 when Kid stayed with him for an extra night when I was out of town on business "to compensate for the additional costs of feeding and entertaining [Kid] in [Dad's] home".

What still gets me is how unnecessary these things are - I calculated the ratio one way, using reasonable assumptions, and got a valid result; he calculated it another way, also using reasonable assumptions, and got a different but not invalid result. To me, this suggests that you compromise and meet in the middle, especially as the difference between the estimates is so small. To him, this suggests that you throw a big fit.

In the words of Elvis Costello, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.
 
Rioe said:
Don't you have any sort of precedent from previous years that you can just follow?

Some days I really love my 100% s7 proportion.
Click to expand...

Rioe, in previous years when I've calculated the ratio, it's always been whole numbers and it hasn't been an issue with him. However, because our divorce order does not say explicitly "the income ratio shall be expressed in whole numbers and no fractions", ex now believes it may be expressed in whatever fraction might gain him an extra ten bucks or so.

I am going to propose an amendment to our order stating that the ratio shall be calculated to one decimal point. All numbers to the right of that one decimal point shall be truncated and treated as zero for the purpose of calculation. Maybe that will be sufficient.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top