Chapter $2|$ Number Sense: Basic Computational Skills and Benchmarks

b$.$ A letter to the editor of the New York Times complained about a Times editorial that quoted the following demoralizing statistic:

An American woman is beaten by her husband or boyfriend every $15$ seconds.

The writer of the letter complained: $"$At that rate, $21$ million women would be beaten by their husbands or boyfriends every year. That is simply not the case."

Is the letter writer's numerical reasoning correct?

i$.$ Yes. An incident every $15$ seconds is $4$ per minute, $240$ per hour, $5760$ per day, $40320$ per week, $2096640$ per year, about $21$ million.

ii$.$ No$.$ An incident every $15$ seconds is $4$ per minute, $240$ per hour, $5760$ per day, $40320$ per week, $209640$ per year, not $2096640$ per year.

iii. Yes. An incident every $15$ seconds is $4$ per minute, $240$ per hour, $5760$ per day, $40320$ per week, $2096640$ per year, about $210\mathrm{.}0$ million.

iv$.$ No$.$ An incident every $15$ seconds is $4$ per minute, $240$ per hour, $5760$ per day, $40320$ per week, $2096640$ per year which is about $2\mathrm{.}1$ million, not $21$ million.

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c$.$ The letter writer in question $1b$ goes on to cite the National Crime Victimization Survey $($NCVS$),$ which estimates about $254,000$ cases of violence against women by husbands or boyfriends each year. The NCVS reports cases, not incidents. How does this information support the letter writer's case? Explain.