Pluses and Minuses: How Math Solves Our Problems

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Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. The editor of the BMJ announced that the BMJ wants to '…alert readers, the media, and the public to the withdrawal of these statements so that patients who could benefit from statins are not wrongly deterred from starting or continuing treatment because of exaggerated concerns over side-effects. In addition, + represents the operation of addition, which results in a sum, while − represents subtraction, resulting in a difference. Egton Medical Information Systems Limited has used all reasonable care in compiling the information but make no warranty as to its accuracy.

e., minus) appeared for the first time in Luca Pacioli's mathematics compendium, Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità, first printed and published in Venice in 1494. National guidelines suggest we should be considering statin treatment for anyone with a 10-year risk of heart attack or stroke that's higher than 20%. On the one hand, there are the passionate advocates, who believe statins should be, if not quite added to the tap water, certainly given to more than the seven million people in the UK who take them today. The case for statins in people at very high risk of heart attack or stroke - for instance, people who have already had a heart attack or stroke or most people with type 2 diabetes- was already proven. Robert Recorde, the designer of the equals sign, introduced plus and minus to Britain in 1557 in The Whetstone of Witte: [14] "There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more: the other is thus made − and betokeneth lesse.

However, all medicines carry risks as well as benefits, and as a doctor I weigh up these risks and benefits every time I prescribe a medicine. The only side-effect which was significantly more common in people taking statins was developing type 2 diabetes, although they estimate that 80% of the people on statins who developed type 2 diabetes would have been diagnosed with it anyway. In his 1489 treatise, Johannes Widmann referred to the symbols − and + as minus and mer (Modern German mehr; "more"): "[. Once the class are getting confident, I usually start recording some of the calculations on the board, or getting a student to do it for me!

The models for teaching addition and subtraction of positive and negative numbers that we share in this article are designed to lead to understanding. So imagine we bought 5 good players, sold 2 good players, bought 3 bad players and sold 7 bad players.

Can they suggest how to subtract negative numbers without going to all the trouble of drawing pluses and minuses? If you have a SMART Board, you may wish to download this notebook file which was shared with us by Jon Turpin. In many contexts, it does not matter whether the second or the third of these usages is intended: −5 is the same number.

This notation may be used when it is desired to emphasize the positiveness of a number, especially in contrast with the negative numbers ( +5 versus −5). The study suggesting this strategy argues that a 'blanket' policy would be easier and cheaper, and possibly more effective, than the present policy of screening everyone over 40.In American English nowadays, −5 (for example) is generally referred to as "negative five" though speakers born before 1950 often refer to it as "minus five". The point about screening is that if you find someone is at high risk, it gives you the opportunity to give them advice about healthy lifestyle changes to lower their cholesterol. Though the signs now seem as familiar as the alphabet or the Hindu-Arabic numerals, they are not of great antiquity.

In 2012, the same study group went one stage further, suggesting that a similar-sized benefit applied to people who were at relatively low risk of heart attack and stroke (usually taken as a 10-year risk under 20%). Nicole Oresme's manuscripts from the 14th century show what may be one of the earliest uses of + as a sign for plus.

Another study looked not just at how many people developed side-effects when they were taking statins, but how those figures compared to people who were taking placebo (non-active) in the same trials. If you're at moderate risk, are taking a statin and not having side-effects, you're almost certainly doing yourself more good than harm. Patient aims to help the world proactively manage its healthcare, supplying evidence-based information on a wide range of medical and health topics to patients and health professionals. This time, it was a study where for the first half, half the patients were taking a placebo, the other half were taking a statin, and neither knew which they were on.