1 5 times smaller 20 times lower I never understand these terms How can something be 20x smaller I mean a box can be 20x larger A box could be 20 smaller but nothing can be 20 times lower I read the article that was cited the words used were 3 5 deaths per 100 000 person years only 3 percent of the rate i e 116 expected for the general population from that we could say the death rate was 3 of the expected or there was a 97 decrease in cancer related mortality Can we correct these confusing terms so useful information can be conveyed