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#1: Initial revision by user avatar Chgg Clou‭ · 2021-06-04T04:46:23Z (almost 3 years ago)
How to intuit : married smokers × all people < all smokers × all married people ? 
How can I intuit inequality (3) [in my previous post](https://math.codidact.com/posts/282014)?  The author intuits inequalities (1) and (2), but not (3). 

Scilicet, how can you explain inequality (3) to a 10 year old? I can't intuit the meaning of multiplying smokers $\times$ people!

>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; If you multiply both sides of each inequality by the common denominator
(all people) × (all smokers) you can see that the two statements are different
ways of saying the same thing:

>(married smokers) × (all people) < (all smokers) × (all
married people) Why doesn't `$\tag{3}$` work?

>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In the same way, if smoking and marriage were positively correlated, it
would mean that married people were more likely than average to smoke and
smokers more likely than average to be married.


Ellenberg, *How Not to Be Wrong* (2014), page 348.