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Comment by Buge | Hacker News Reader

> This came out to about a 2x savings over AWS.

Is that a typical way to describe cost savings? I would have said 1/2 the cost of AWS. It almost sounds like cloudflare would pay them money (e.g. you go to the store and see something marked 200% off, so you get paid to buy it, like when oil prices went negative).

Related: I've always found the 2x, 10x, etc notation confusing. Does a 2x improvement mean a 100% increase (e.g. 10 -> 20) or a 200% increase (e.g. 10 -> 30)? Would someone ever say a 1x improvement or a 0.5x improvement?

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It's funny how your first paragraph makes it clear you're not confused about this at all.

2x savings means you need to double the new price to get the old

10x savings means multiple new price by 10x to get old

59x savings...multiply by 59.

Yeah, I could guess based on context. I would prefer notation that's clear on its own without needing to look at context. "1/2 the price" is clear on its own.

And it still makes me feel nervous that 3x improvement = 200% increase. It seems to me like a big opportunity for misunderstanding.

Thank you so much for saying this! It has always bothered me

1/59th the price isn't as clear.

If even a person asking how it works knew how it worked, how confusing can it be?

I think 1/59th the price is clearer than 59x cheaper. In 59x, what is the x for? Multiplication? What is being multiplied?

"1/59th the price of AWS" is clear because you take the price of AWS and multiply it by 1/59. Probably more clear would be "1.7% the price of AWS".

When I think there's an opportunity for misunderstanding, I point it out. I don't think I'm more likely to misunderstand something than the average person, but I am more likely to speak out if I see something potentially confusing.

I would be interested in seeing a poll where we ask people to estimate "59x cheaper than $200", vs "1/59th of $200" vs "1.7% of $200". Obviously the last one is easiest to do exactly in your head, but we can still get a fair comparison by just seeing whether people are at least in the neighborhood vs way off.

I would also like to see it with 2x, 1/2 and 50%.

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