Quotation of the Day…

by Don Boudreaux on October 21, 2020

in Data, Seen and Unseen

… is from page 130 of the late, great Hans Rosling’s 2018 book, Factfulness:

Never, ever leave a number all by itself. Never believe that one number on its own can be meaningful. If you are offered one number, always ask for at least one more. Something to compare it with.

Be especially careful of big numbers. It is a strange thing, but numbers over a certain size, when they are not compared with anything else, always look big. And how can something big not be important?

DBx: Indeed. I wish more people would take this sound counsel to heart when hearing reports about Covid-19.

Comments

Add a Comment    Share Share    Print    Email

Previous post:

Next post: