Websites, books & tools
Training
Learn to Take the Numb Out of Numbers and more in Ann Wylie’s clear-writing workshop.
Calculators
Compound Interest Calculator
It’ll cost how much to pay my sunglasses off over 20 years?!
Cost of living calculator
A cool way to compare the price of a candy bar or movie ticket between decades.
Cost of Living Calculator
Find out how much your Clay Center, Kansas, salary will buy you in California.
The Inflation Calculator
“Treating 2004 dollars the same as 1981 dollars isn’t much different from treating dollars the same as rupees,” writes David Leonhardt, The New York Times economics reporter. “The fact that 10 is a bigger number than 9 doesn’t make 10 rupees worth more than $9; nor does it make $10 from 2004 worth more than $9 from 1981.”
Percentage change calculator
When I ask attendees of my Rev Up Readability workshop to figure percentage change, they act like it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever done. (And some of them have just increased readability by more than 300%.) I think knowing how to figure percentage change is an important life skill. But why bother when there’s an app for that?
Converters
OnlineConversion
Thanks to Mom, I’ll never forget that “A pint’s a pound the world around.” But when Mom’s not around, this site will help you convert just about anything into just about anything else.
Universal Currency Converter
For when you need to translate dinars to dollars or vice versa.
Tipsheets & tests
Statistics Every Writer Should Know
Don’t know a median from a mean? Get up to speed fast with Robert Niles’ simple guide to understanding basic statistics.
How can you help readers get the numbers?
If your readers are like most, they have, on average, below-basic numerical literacy, according to a massive international literacy study.
In this environment, how well are they understanding your statistics?Learn to make numbers interesting and understandable at Rev Up Readability, our tight-writing workshop on Feb. 22-26.
There, you’ll learn to avoid statistics soup and data dumps; how to make numbers more emotional; how to create meaningful — not discombobulating — charts and which key question to ask every time your fingers reach for the top row of the keyboard.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
