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How to explain statistical numbers to someone with Discalculia?

Asked by rebbel (35552points) August 23rd, 2017

I want to explain to someone I know, who ‘suffers from’ Discalculia, the odds of surviving an airplane flight.
So here are the numbers:

According to a Harvard University study, the odds that your airplane will crash are 1 in 1.2 million, and the odds of dying from a crash are 1 in 11 million. (By comparison, the odds of dying from a shark attack are 1 in 3.1 million.) Transportation by air is far more safe than driving, where your chances of dying in a car accident are 1 in 5,000.

Now here is where it gets difficult; said person has a hard time seeing the exact difference between 5000, and 11 million.
It could be a factor 4, in that person’s head, or a factor 1000.
Or anything in between.
Anything upwards of thousand is hard to grasp.

Is there a way to make clear that the chances of making it alive, through air travel, are very high, much higher than car travel?

Put in Social, because wit is appreciated.
Would love to hear a serious answer too, though!

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