The difference between absolute and relative stems from the choice of comparison. Absolute and relative are concepts that are used in life to know more about people, things, and ideas. For example, if there is only one internet service provider in an area, the customers, not knowing the features and services of other ISP in other areas, remain content with what they are getting. They cannot compare the features of service and hence have an absolute experience, not relative. Though, in a market, when buying a product, one gets a chance to compare the product with other similar products made by several companies and this helps in choosing one that is most suitable for his requirements. Let us take a closer look at the two concepts, absolute and relative.
What does Absolute mean?
When you are looking at an absolute perspective, you are not taking into account other similar people or products. You are taking an object as it is and coming to a conclusion based on what it has to offer. For example, there is a concept of absolute poverty that is used in some countries to measure the economy. A threshold is set up and the households having total earnings falling below this threshold are marked as poor. This is an absolute method of counting the number of poor in a country.
The concept of absolute is used in health care industry, as well. There is an absolute risk that a person has to develop a disease or ailment in future. When nothing else of a person is taken into account, every individual has a certain risk of developing a disease later in life depending upon his physical and mental makeup. Every individual has a genetic code that is different and thus there are differences in absolute risks of different people. For example, a person may have just 10% chance of developing heart problem later in life, whereas another person, based upon his health and lifestyle may have 50% risk of developing a heart disease.
When it comes to grading students too, absolute grading is used. Absolute grading is done so that a student’s own potential can be identified. In absolute grading, the grades are already set as more than 85 is A, more than 70 and less than 85 is B, more than 55 and less than 70 is C, etc. So, each student has a chance of scoring as long as he or she is working hard enough to meet these grade limits.
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