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Careers with maths
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From satellites to the London Olympics, all in one career

A favourite from the archive...
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Discover why the number 6174 is so mysterious.

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September 2008
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false positive

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NHS budgets, third world debt, predictions of global warming, inflation, Iraqi war dead, the decline of fish stocks or hedgehogs, the threat of cancer — there's hardly a subject people care about that comes without measurements, forecasts, rankings, statistics, targets, numbers of every variety. Do they illuminate or mislead? Introducing their new book, Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot take a look at numbers in the media and show that a little maths goes a long way in unravelling dodgy media claims.

Tags: statistics : mathematics in the media : percentage : Average : false positive