Comments on: Relative returns: a banker versus trader paradox http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2010/01/relative-returns-a-banker-versus-trader-paradox/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=relative-returns-a-banker-versus-trader-paradox The Applied Theorist's Point of View Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:13:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Steve Cole http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2010/01/relative-returns-a-banker-versus-trader-paradox/comment-page-1/#comment-1753 Steve Cole Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:52:59 +0000 http://www.win-vector.com/blog/?p=1296#comment-1753 So... *Is* there a reasonable language for *me*, the "I'm just barely paying attention" investor to use to rationally describe gains and losses? Somehow, saying "I had a 0.0458 dB gain" doesn't really flow off the tongue (and dB isn't exactly right, either, but we need some kind of unit). Or, maybe it does. If we use the EE definition of dB, and multiply your logarithms by 20, then the numbers actually enter the realm of useful for human thinking. That 10% loss is a drop of .916 dB. Hm. Now if I could just get my broker to give me those kind of numbers... So… *Is* there a reasonable language for *me*, the “I’m just barely paying attention” investor to use to rationally describe gains and losses? Somehow, saying “I had a 0.0458 dB gain” doesn’t really flow off the tongue (and dB isn’t exactly right, either, but we need some kind of unit).

Or, maybe it does. If we use the EE definition of dB, and multiply your logarithms by 20, then the numbers actually enter the realm of useful for human thinking. That 10% loss is a drop of .916 dB. Hm. Now if I could just get my broker to give me those kind of numbers…

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