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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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Factual

A rural UK post box

15/03/2014

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Your questions – from the USA, Australia and the world

Your questions – from the USA, Australia and the world.

This programme is dedicated to answering as many questions posed by listeners as possible.

Do the Maasai in Africa number one million?
This figure has been regularly cited over the last 15 years for the traditionally nomadic group which live in Kenya and Tanzania - but where does it come from and is it true? A listener from Boston in the US asks the team to investigate.  
 
Is it true that a quarter of Americans do not know the Earth goes round the sun?
"Does the Earth go around the sun, or does the sun go around the Earth?" - This was a question in a quiz by a government agency to test understanding of science in the US. Why did a quarter of Americans appear to get this basic fact wrong? A listener in Dubai asks us to find out.
 
Is it true that half of Tasmanians are innumerate and illiterate?
An Australian listener got in touch to say he was shocked that in a developed country like Australia, there could be a region where half of adults could not read or write. He heard the figures reported on TV and asked us to check out the numbers.
 
Do the 85 richest people in the world hold the same amount of wealth as the poorest half?
A number of listeners contacted us asking us to check this fact which has been widely reported around the world - from the Wall Street Journal to CNN.

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