Having fun with figures; making sense of stats

Tim Sparks

Variability (uncertainty)

exists in almost everything.....

You are flying from the UK. What risk of a crash is acceptable to you?

a) 5% b) 1% c) 0.1%

You are going to a wedding, and you will drink alcohol. What probability of a hangover is acceptable to you? a) 5% b) 1% c) 0.1%

Use this!

Coventry store sees sales of 99p cleavage-boosting bras soar by

600% in wake of breast implant saga

THE boss of a budget stores chain claims the breast implant saga has seen its sales of 99p cleavage-boosting bras and chest enhancing products soar by 600 per cent at its Coventry

shop in the last two weeks alone.

Hussein Lalani, pictured, owner of 99p Stores, said since it emerged last month that 40,000 UK women have been fitted with a type of implant that is at risk of rupturing inside the body, its shops have been inundated with consumers wanting a way of enhancing their

breasts without the risk of surgery.

He would not give specific figures of how many of the breast-enhancing products the firm had sold, but confirmed sales at its Hertford Street store in the city centre’s had tripled in

14 days.

Mr Lalani said: “It’s not just our padded bras that have been flying off the shelves, our breast lift tape, which enhances cleavages, has also been hugely popular.

Coventry Telegraph 16/1/2012

Nov 30 2001 Dec 2 2002 Dec 2 2003 Dec 2 2004

Dec 2 2005 Dec 2 2006 Nov 30 2007 Dec 2 2008

Dec 2 2009 Dec 2 2010 Dec 2 2011

Daily MailBritain could have first 'green Christmas' as climate change

warms autumn

Dr Tim Sparks, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Cambridgeshire, said: 'In four of the past six or seven years there have still been leaves on the trees in December, so a

green Christmas is not so much of a joke now.

It will only take a delay in one or two frosts and we could have one. It's possible it will happen this year.'

Daily Mail 30/10/11

The purpose of graphics

•To convey complex information in a easy-to-understand format

•To convey complex information in a format that is understandable with reference to a clearly

written figure legend

•To present complex information in a space-saving format

Map of the world according to the nations GDPCopyright: Mark Newman, Department of Physics

and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan.

URL: http://www. personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cartograms/

gdp1024x512.png

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sNumbers of migrant moths and butterflies at Portland

1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010

0.91.01.11.21.31.41.51.61.7

DDT in use

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Sparrowhawk eggs