The story of average
How astronomers introduced the world to the average.
In the 1600s astronomers were coming up with measurements to help sailors read their maps with a compass. But with all the observations of the skies they were making, how do they choose the best number? We tell the story of how astronomers started to find the average from a group of numbers. By the 1800s, one Belgian astronomer began to apply this to all sorts of social and national statistics – and the ‘Average Man’ was born.
(Image: Illustration of an observatory. Credit: Shutterstock)
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Broadcasts
- Fri 8 Apr 2016 21:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & News Internet
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 01:50GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 02:50GMTBBC World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East & UK DAB/Freeview only
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 03:50GMTBBC World Service East Asia & South Asia only
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 04:50GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 06:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 11 Apr 2016 14:50GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life
