Ratios For Dummies ...

I like two candies: one is green color and the other is orange color.

Today, research indicates that there are ten million green candies and one million orange candies in the known universe.

I have acquired ten thousand green and ten thousand orange candies, and I have thoroughly mixed them in a large container. I cannot see inside this container.

I reach into the container, retrieve one candy, note its color and eat it. As I repeat this over and over, I notice that the total number of green candies is nearly equal to the number of orange candies that I have eaten.

After one hour: 7 green & 8 orange

Two hours: 14 green & 13 orange

Three hours: 22 green & 23 orange

Eight hours: 57 green & 57 orange

In the whole universe, the ratio is ten green candies to every one orange candy. In the subset of that, which I'm encountering, the ratio is one green candy to one orange candy.

Therefore, the overall population of green and orange candies has nothing to do with how many green candies and how many orange candies I eat.

The result is the same, even when the encountered ratio is other than 1:1. It is the same, even if the colors are black and white, not green and orange. The result is the same, even when the encountered are people, not candy.

The same holds true for people who die due to a police encounter. If the police do not encounter me, I have no chance of dying at their hands.

Yes, it is an interesting question: Why do the police encounter one group of people more than another group? That question, however interesting, has nothing to do with the math problem described above.