My 2 cents on Exit Polls

Yesterday, I was looking at the Exit poll results of 2009 Elections on CNN-IBN and NDTV. They were giving all sorts of projections based on their survey.

In the CNN IBN survey, I had a look at the Bihar numbers(any state would do, I took Bihar since they had a round 40 seats which can easily divide any number). There were 1960 respondents from Bihar, which means 49 respondents per constituency. I assume each constituency as a few lac voters. How can 49 people represent these few lac voters?

I don't believe NDTV either, who have not even mentioned their sample size.

Hence I don't like to believe these numbers but would like to watch out for Saturday the 16th.

Improper Reporting by Newspapers and websites

If you have a look at this article, it says the Rupee gained 18 paise against the dollar.

Let's make a few things straight

1 Rupee = 100 paise

Is it possible for rupee to gain 18 paise and equal 118 paise. It's rubbish. It is impossible for a currency to appreciate against another currency in its own terms.

What the newspaper tries to explain is that, 1 USD has depreciated by 18 paise.

The newspaper here tries to put the information in terms of Rupee. Then, the article should have said Rupee gains xxx cents. But this is not practical because the cent gain by Rupee will be very very little, hence the mistake these people do.