Lies, damn lies and statistics.
Here are some figures I have heard over the years. Just in case you are interested, I'll give you their context as well. Be prepared not to be shocked.
Most employers spend more on coffee for their staff than on the security of their computer files. Oh dear. Why do they spend so much on something relatively unimportant when their computer files are in danger? Well, how many jars of coffee could you buy for the cost of one piece of anti-virus software? Where I work I drink most of the coffee so I know how fast it disappears. On the other hand, most people can look after their computer files with a bit of common sense (which, by the way, is free).
'Seventy-eight percent of managers aren't concerned about stress in the workplace.' How cruel. Don't they realise how important it is for their staff to be healthy and happy? In fact, several hundred managers put a list of things that concerned them in order, from most to least important.. Twenty-two percent put stress at the top. The others put it in another position on the list. One hundred minus twenty-two equals seventy-eight. It doesn't have the same effect now.
Fifty-two percent of men in the city wear odd socks to work. This figure came from a sock company. They didn't say where they got the number from. I think the idea is that these people couldn't find a matching pair in the morning, so it would be better if they bought some more. Hey, that's what our company does! What a surprise.
Twenty million people have wasted money on tasteless improvements to their homes. Or rather, two thousand people were asked online to describe their homes. Someone decided what was 'tasteless', and found about half were. They then calculated that, with forty million adults in the UK, that gave twenty million with no eye for beauty. It was a home-insurance company that designed the survey.
By the way, as my mathematics teacher once said, it should be 'lies, damn lies and the interpretation of statistics'. Most of the time the numbers are correct but what you do with them is another matter. Benjamin Disraeli, who the quotation comes from, wasn't as pedantic as my maths teacher (or me for that matter).
Glossary
cruel okrutny
odd socks = different coloured socks on each foot
tasteless niegustowny
insurance ubezpieczenie
These are all examples of collections of statistics. What are they and who produces them?
The FTSE index
Passenger figures
Crime rates
Readership and circulation.
KEY
The Financial Times-Stock Exchange index is, as you can see, produced by the Financial Times. It's a list of the 100 leading shares on the stock market. There is another one in America called the Dow Jones.
Any transport company, state-owned or private, needs to know how many people ride on its trains, fly on its aeroplanes and so on.
The Home Office publishes the numbers of illegal things people do, and then argue about whether crime is going up or down.
Newspapers keep an eye on how many people buy their publication every day or every week. Circulation is the number of papers and readership is the type of person who reads it.
More statistics!
If you are one of these people who believes anything so long as it appeared on the internet, see how many of these unproven statistics you can match up!
a) 3
b) 2,500
c) 800,000
d) 42 million
- left-handed people die each as a result of using right-handed products
- people die each year testing 9-volt batteries on their tongues.
- people in the world are drunk at any one time
- fan letters were sent to Mickey Mouse in 1933
P.S. No, I can't prove any of these.
KEY
a) 2 b) 1 c) 4 d)3
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." Stalin to Churchill, Potsdam, 1945