Many companies perform a subtle fraud when they report their earnings. They slightly increase a number that’s an 0.4 to an 0.5. Why? Well, then they can round that 0.5 up to a 1.0, and skew their numbers higher, so the original .04 becomes a one.

This fraud was discovered by a study which analyzed the occurrence of the number 4 in company earning reports. The number 4 occurred much less often than it would if it appeared by chance.

What did the authors call this effect?

"Quadrophobia – the fear of fours."

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