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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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More or Less: Mission: Impossible - Quantifying Santa

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Mission: Impossible - Quantifying Santa

22/12/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - More or Less, Mission: Impossible - Quantifying Santa

Father Christmas, Santa Clause, Babbo Natale, Pere Noel, St Nicholas:  the man with many names who gets in his sleigh and travels the globe delivering presents to children that have been determined ‘good’ by some unknown algorithm. Mathematicians and Statisticians have long grappled with the question of how he manages this. Is he omnipresent, armed with an improbability device or is it just magic? The more or less team explore what we should be looking out for if we want to catch a glimpse of the mysterious gift giver with the help of Dr Paul Bruce, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Aerodynamics at Imperial College London. 

Presenters: Lizzy McNeill and Jordan Dunbar
Producer: Lizzy McNeill


(Letters to Santa Claus Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

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