Fun with Math

So, I came across this article in today's paper. I'll let other folks discuss the societal implications of the actual content of the news story, what caught my eye was the second paragraph:

School officials in this hard-luck New England fishing town say an alarming 17 girls - four times the usual number - became pregnant this year.

This awoke the math teacher in me (who had been hibernating for the summer). Unless the school has 0.25 of a student get pregnant every year 17 is not four times the usual number. Seventeen may be four times the average, or about four times the usual number, but, since four does not go evenly into 17 and since I've never heard of a fractional person getting pregnant, it is not four times the usual number.

There. Done. Persnickety math teacher going back into sleep mode.