Statistics

They're the basis of many important decisions, but can we trust statistics?

Vital statistics

Pity the statistician - all that time working with numbers, and they can't even be sure if what they work with are an "it" or a "them". They're confusing things, statistics.

Words about numbers

There's more to statistics than numbers - unfortunately, there's a lot of words too. If you think the figures are slippery, meet the confusing terms.

The average man - Cleese, Barker and Corbett on Frost Over England

What does mean mean?

So you think you’re pretty average do you? But are you really? You might actually be a mean or even a median…there's nothing average about averages.

Burning issues

Even today, there are people who argue about the risks of tobacco - it's little wonder it took 400 years to get conclusive evidence of the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

When media meet numbers

Can you rely on numbers in the news? Examine statistics and the media.

Our survey says...

Finding out opinions is a tricky business - you can't ask everyone your question, so you have to rely on sampling. It's the art of the possible, according to our survey of surveys.

On target?

What do league tables really tell us? Discover how to make sense of the confusing claims of performance indicators.

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