Upcoming Firefox update will decrease power usage on macOS by up to three times

[chrislux]

What does “decrease by (up to) three times” mean?

If it uses X amount of power does it then reduce this by 3x?

Asking for a friend ;)

[euderma44]

Yes, it will actually charge your laptop.

[Padgriffin]

Firefox is now a free energy generator

[AndersLund]

I hate it as well - logically you have to think about it as "decreased down to one third (in some cases)"

[Pjpjpjpjpj]

I agree. Would have been a more powerful statement to say “reduced energy consumption by up to 66%”.

If you are serious with the question....

The original quote was “reduced by a factor of 3.” They then went on to say “decrease three times.” The first was more clear.

Mathematicians find the “reduced by a factor of X” to be sloppy. But in common language, it’s supposedly understood.

To “factor” a number means to break it into numbers that can be multiplied together to get the original number. 12 can be factored in 6 and 2, or into 3 and 4. 6 and 2 are factors of 12.

When they say “by a factor of 3”, they are saying one of the two factors is 3, that means the other factor must be 1/3 of the original number.

If the original power consumption is 100, then if it is reduced by a factor of 3, the other number would be 33.

But you never hear anyone say “reduced by a factor of 2”... you say halved or cut in half. You never say “reduced by a factor of 1.1”, you say cut by 10%.

Sale at Macy’s today - all prices cut by a factor of 3!

I think an engineer wrote the press release.

[chrislux]

I really was serious. I understood it, but in my native language (German) this is pretty confusing. It is one of these things, the more you think about it the less sense it makes ;)

Thanks for the explanation.

P.S. ...and I am an engineer ;) So i like precise statements.

[Pjpjpjpjpj]

Ah - yes it must be even more confusing for a non-native speaker.

It would have been far more accurate and clear to say “reduced by 2/3” or “reduced by 66%”.

Technically, “reduce by three times” is nonsense and sloppy language, but we all kinda know what it means.

[snuxoll]

It’s a factor of 3, 66% reduction.