[Essay] a problem understanding a sentence.

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hitoco

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I'm having a problem understanding a sentence.
Your kind assistance would be very much appreciated!

Sentences below are an extract from a "Reading exercise" of my textbook.
The heading of this article is "How many friends should you have?".

..............................
An American study asked eighteen-year-olds to list their three best friends.
Years later, it was discovered that those named most often tended to be earning the most.
In fact, every extra friend added two percent to their salary.
The researchers believed that this is because people with better social skills do better in the workplace.
..............................

Underlined line is the questioned part.
I just can't get it and have no clue...
Please help me understand this.
Thank you
 

Grumpy

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It certainly is not expressed very clearly. Let me explain what I understand it to mean. First of all, let's imagine that you were one of the eighteen-year-olds in the study, and let's also suppose that there was a completely even spread of best friends across the sample. That would mean that 3 different people named you as one of their best friends, and everyone else was also named by 3 different people as being one of their best friends. It would also tend to indicate that everyone would be earning the same sort of salary some years later.
Now let's suppose that you were particularly popular, and that 10 different people named you as one of their best friends. That's 7 extra "best" friends you have, and some years later you would be earning 7 x 2 = 14% more than the average person in the study.
 

hitoco

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Thank you Grumpy, very much, really.
I'm afraid it's puzzling to me. tried, though haha...
I really tried but, no, I think I could never be able to get it.
Sheesh, useless me... But thanks anyways.:oops:

Let me try one more time.
My question is...
why does this talk about 'salary' 'earning' suddenly
what the number 2% comes after?
and the pronoun 'their' salary is making me confuse more to figure who worth how.

Please anyone, I would greatly appreciate if you can help me or give me a suggestion.

Thanks a bunch.
 
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hitoco

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Please anyone...
anything is better.
 

MikeNewYork

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The idea is that people who had many friends in high school go on to be more successful than those who didn't.

Success is often measured in annual salary (not always correct).

This study concluded that for every friend one had that was above the average one would make 2% per friend more than the average person.

Average in the group: 3 friends = average salary
I additional friend (4) = average salary + 2%
2 additional friends (5) = average salary + 4%
3 additional friends (6) = average salary + 6%
And so on.
 

hitoco

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Thank you for replying me, sir.
So it can be if you are the best friend of more than three then one worth 2% of your salary, like that?
I-I-, I hope I'm not entirely wrong.
Thank you again.
 

MikeNewYork

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That is what the study said. I have no idea if it is true.
 

hitoco

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Many many thanks.
 
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Rover_KE

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Your clicks on the Thank button are sufficient, hitoco.

I deleted your carelessly written or deliberately ungrammatical text in the post above. We expect to read standard English from those who are perfectly capable of writing it.
 

tzfujimino

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My question is...
why does this talk about 'salary' 'earning' suddenly

Hello, hitoco.:-D
A survey was conducted, and the result was that there might/is some relation between people's social skills (=skills you need to make friends, in the 'high school' context above) and their salary.
Social skills are required to negotiate a business contract, for example. So, the better your social skills are, the more likely you'll succeed in business.

It doesn't mean if you make three more friends tomorrow, your salary will rise by 6%!
It's a matter of statistics.
 
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