You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
.648 OPS
Tim Tebow got promoted from the low-A minor leagues to the high-A affiliate of the New York Mets. Over his 64 games with the Columbia Fireflies, he had a .648 OPS, which is not really the kind of number that tends to land ballplayers a promotion. [FiveThirtyEight]
5 golf clubs
The Washington Post found that a fake cover of TIME Magazine with President Trump — literal fake news — had been hanging in prominent locations in at least five of the real estate magnate’s 17 golf clubs. [The Washington Post]
38.7 percent
President Trump’s estimated job approval rating, with 55.6 percent of the country disapproving of the job he is doing. [FiveThirtyEight]
75 percent
Share of the time the “‘i’ before ‘e’ … ” spelling mnemonic is accurate. Looking at the second part of the rule, “… except after ‘c’,” that’s also correct in about 75 percent of the words where and “ie” or “ei” follows “c.” [Nathan Cunn]
500,000 deaths
In the U.S., there are almost 100 deaths each day due to opioids. And if opioid use rises as experts expect, the drug could kill more than 500,000 people over the next 10 years. [STAT News]
$2.7 billion
Google was slapped with a $2.7 billion fine by the European Union for skewing search results in favor of Google’s shopping site. They have 90 days to correct the problem, or they could face further fines. [Bloomberg]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.