Talk:increase

Mather?

Any point in mentioning w:Increase Mather's weird first name here? 68.39.174.238 23:32, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Not in the article. The talk page mention here should suffice without getting in anyone's way. —Dvortygirl 23:36, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

negative increase

What is its meaning in the expression negative increase ? --Backinstadiums (talk) 22:11, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Can you provide a specific quotation? The first possibility that comes to mind is that it could be an unusual (perhaps legalistic, NNSE, or euphemistic) way of just saying decrease. In other words, an increase by a negative amount ($\Delta x=x_{1}-x_{0}<0$):

[1] "Natural increase is the difference between crude birth and death rates. Some populations have a positive increase; others can have a negative increase as their population decreases."

The second possibility is a more specific version of a decrease. Not a decrease from 100 to 50, but from -100 to -150, i.e., a negative number that is becoming more negative. In other words, an increase in absolute value of a negative quantity ($\Delta x<0,|x_{1}|>|x_{0}|$).

[2] " […] a negative increase from this bottom part of the section (–14.17 to –14.67 ‰ V-PDB; Table 2) […] "

[3] " […] showed obviously negative increase from –56.63 mV to –119.32 mV […] "

It's hard to tell if these sources are using it in that specific sense, or just general "decrease".

Lastly, it could refer to an increase that is "negative" in the sense of being bad. So, the quantity is not decreasing at all, just increasing; what is negative is our evaluation of it. For instance, an increase in the number of cancer cells of a patient would be considered a "negative (bad) increase" in this sense. I did not find any citations for this, though. 70.172.194.25 11:59, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

All three sources listed above are extremely minor. You can find some reference somewhere for almost any usage. We should limit ourselves to reliable sources. Rick Norwood (talk) 12:37, 28 February 2022 (UTC)