In this article -- Asteroid flies by Earth --
"An asteroid the size of a small truck zoomed past Earth four times closer than the moon on Saturday..."
What does "4 times closer" mean? Does it mean "1/4 as close as," or "1/5 as close as,"
or "less than 1/4 as close as" ?
If the average distance between the Earth and the moon is x,
does this mean the asteroid got as close to Earth as x/4, or x/5, or just less than x/4 ?
If someone says "Amy is 3 times as tall as Joe," I understand Amy's height = (3 * Joe's height).
But if "Amy is 3 times taller than Joe" -- I don't understand; does it mean the same thing?
Similarly, "Amy is half as tall as Joe" -- clear.
But "Amy is two times shorter than Joe" -- (probably awkward English and nobody says that), unclear to me.