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Description
Nature and fraud: In More or Less this week we looked at the strange mathematical law that seems to defy common sense. In describing or measuring the natural world out there, it turns out that ther...e are more 1s than 2s, and about six times as many 1s as 9s. Well, measure all the rivers in the world and whether you use kilometres or miles, or even inches, more will start with the digit 1 than 2, more with 2 than 3 and so on. Benford's Law, as it is known, can even catch fraud. But no-one knows why it works. Pensions: Looking at savings data and examining arguments about population change, we interviewed Adair Turner, head of the Pensions Commission, whose report did much to confirm the consensus that there was a crisis. Immigration. How many Somalians there are in the UK. An easy question to answer? Not perhaps as easy as you would think. We looked at how we classify and count groups within the population and ask why it matters.
Nature and fraud: In More or Less this week we looked at the strange mathematical law that seems to defy common sense. In describing or measuring the natural world out there, it turns out that ther...e are more 1s than 2s, and about six times as many 1s as 9s. Well, measure all the rivers in the world and whether you use kilometres or miles, or even inches, more will start with the digit 1 than 2, more with 2 than 3 and so on. Benford's Law, as it is known, can even catch fraud. But no-one knows why it works. Pensions: Looking at savings data and examining arguments about population change, we interviewed Adair Turner, head of the Pensions Commission, whose report did much to confirm the consensus that there was a crisis. Immigration. How many Somalians there are in the UK. An easy question to answer? Not perhaps as easy as you would think. We looked at how we classify and count groups within the population and ask why it matters.
| Series: | More or less |
|---|---|
| Episode | 4 |
| First transmission date: | 2005-02-03 |
| Published: | 2005 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:24:49 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Michael Blastland |
| Contributors: | A. W Dilnot; Robert Hunt; Mark Nigrini; Adair Turner; Zila Watson |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Subject terms: | Mathematical statistics; Social sciences--Statistical methods |
| Production number: | AUDA668A |
| Available to public: | no |
