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derioderio t1_j2sql24 wrote

Reply to comment by Pink_Axolotl151 in How are birth control failure rates even calculated? by [deleted]

That's just pretty basic math though:

1-(1-0.2)^10 = 0.18

1-(1-0.18)^10 = 0.86

etc.

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Pink_Axolotl151 t1_j2svyz2 wrote

I’m an immunologist; we don’t do math.

Kidding, kidding, I understand, but I don’t think it’s intuitive to most people that it works like that. A lot of people think that the quoted failure rates (ie, 2% for male condoms) are the failure rates over a lifetime of use, and the graphics in the article help hammer the message home.

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