Figuring the Facts

Re “When Times Are Tough Do People Seek Entertainment?” (April 3):

While I applaud Robert Epstein’s article for stating that the survey was “informal,” I think that he may have gone a bit too far in his informalities. He refers to a 1% drop in moviegoers in the last five years. My calculation from those same numbers suggests an 11% drop. Next he says that box-office revenues increased by 1% in that time frame, in this case my calculation reveals a 15% increase.

Later in the article he states that 264 million video cassettes were purchased in 1992 but that only 3.57 million videos were rented. This implies that for every video I’ve rented I should have a stack of 74 purchased videos. Unfortunately there is not enough room in my apartment for all these tapes so I cannot comply with that ratio, but I do feel sorry for those other unfortunate souls that have complied.

ROBERT K. LEVY

Tarzana