uppity judges = fun times for all

It's been way too long since I've actually posted anything. Seeing as how I'm frantically trying to prepare for my last two exams, this is about all you're going to get out of me for now. But at least it's a fun one.

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In Gas Futures, Inc. of Texas v. Andrus, 610 F.2d 287 (5th Cir. 1980), one contractor entered a bid of 73.45689%, and its opponent bid .82165. The Secretary of the Interior construed .82165 to mean 82.165%, and the first contractor charged that it was arbitrary and capricious to do so.

"In this appeal we are asked to determine whether '.82' is the equivalent of '82%.' Having successfully completed grammar school, we are able to answer in the affirmative.

"(B)ooks intended for scholars in and below the eighth grade do deal with just this question. On page 87 of their treatise entitled Growth in Arithmetic (Revised Edition, Grade Eight) (World Book Co., Yonkers-On Hudson: 1956), John R. Clark and Rolland R. Smith ask the pertinent question: 'Do you know how to change a per cent to a decimal?' Assuming a negative response, the authors set forth certain examples of equivalency: After inviting the students to study these equivalencies carefully, the authors announce this principle: To change a per cent to a decimal, omit the per cent sign and move the decimal point two places to the left.

The authors then ask their readers to 'Study these examples and see if you can make up a rule for changing decimals to per cents.' The examples given are: .06 = 6% .075 = 7.5% = 7 1/2% .0325 = 3.25% = 3 1/4% .125 = 12 1/2% = 12.5% And then the authors set forth this principle: To change a decimal to a per cent, move the decimal point two places to the right, and write the per cent sign after the number.

And so, with this rule in mind, any eighth grader can tell that .82165 = 82.165%"