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Newsy Numbers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the math-is-a-wonderful-thing dept.

EriDay writes "The Wall Street Journal has a new feature called The Numbers Guy about "the way numbers and statistics are used - and abused - in the news, business and politics". The first installment lets us know that somewhere between 0 and 1 Billion (or more) people will be killed by Asian bird flu."

4 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. Statistical Lies... by Allen+Zadr · · Score: 5, Informative

    First published in 1954: How to Lie With Statistics

    Good book, recommended reading, if you like the above article.

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    1. Re:Statistical Lies... by tgrigsby · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or if you want the Reader's Digest version, there's a quick and easy explanation of how to use critical thinking when you hear statistics here: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/evistats.html

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  2. A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by markh1967 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The article reminded me of 'A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper' by John Allen Paulos. A great read for those interested in the mangling of science and numeracy by the media and politicians.

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  3. A BBC Radio series worth listening to.. by Angostura · · Score: 4, Informative

    The BBC has an excellent radio series called More Or Less" that unpicks the numbers and statistics that are bandied about in the news. It is authoritative, interesting and a remarkably good listen (available on demand using Real Audio)