More or Less

4.7 (776)
MATHEMATICS
UPDATED WEEKLY

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

3D AGO

Transgender women in sport: Does ‘comparable’ mean ‘equal’?

In most sports, men compete against men and women compete against women. That is generally considered fair, because men are faster, more powerful and have greater endurance. But there is an ongoing controversy about transgender women - people who were born male and now identify as women. Is it fair for them to compete in the women’s sport category or do they have an advantage? A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine recently added to the debate with an analysis that found the strength and fitness of transgender women is “comparable” with that of women. More or Less looks into the research to explain what it does, and does not, say. Contributors: Professor Alun Williams, Manchester Metropolitan University Credits: Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Reporter: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
MAR 7

US-Israel war with Iran: Do the gulf states have enough interceptor missiles?

On Saturday 28th February, the US and Israel launched a military attack on Iran, targeting the country's missile infrastructure, military sites and leadership. In response, Iran launched a wave of strikes across the region, including on Israel and the Gulf states. Iran has a stockpile of ballistic missiles, which it’s firing at neighbouring countries. These countries in turn are using interceptor missiles to try and shoot them down. But is it clear who will run out of missiles first? Contributor: Kelly Grieco, senior fellow at the Stimson Center Credits: Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: Tom Brignell Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
FEB 28

Has a company really discovered a million new species?

Have a million new species just been discovered? That’s the claim made by Dr Oliver Vince, co-founder of a company called Basecamp Research, who are collecting genetic data to train AI systems. The hope is that they’ll be able to use this to discover new medicines. But is this number a good one? Rob Finn, from the European Bioinformatics Institute, explains what is being counted and how you go about counting them. Credits: Presenter and producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Dave O’Neill Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
FEB 21

Did AI researchers let AI hallucinations into scientific papers?

AI can make mistakes – and AI chatbots like ChatGPT warn you about that whenever you ask them anything. These mistakes sometimes involve making up entirely fictitious, factually false statements known as “hallucinations”. Whether these hallucinations matter depends on what you’re using AI for, and whether they are spotted and corrected. The team on More or Less were slightly surprised to read a headline in Fortune magazine, claiming that a top academic AI conference accepted research papers which contained 100 AI-hallucinated citations. You might think that the top AI researchers in the world would be careful about using AI to write their research papers. Alex Cui, CTO and co-founder of GPTZero – whose company discovered the hallucinations – explains what’s going on. CREDITS: Presenter and producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: James Beard Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
FEB 17

Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time?

Modern sport can seem awash with money, but it’s been claimed that the richest sportsperson of all is an ancient Roman Charioteer from the second century AD called Gaius Appuleius Diocles, with career winnings that stood at 35 million sesterces. One calculation has translated that into an astonishing $15 billion dollars today, and it’s a figure that’s stuck. But should we believe it? Duncan Weldon talks to ancient historian Professor Mary Beard from the University of Cambridge to learn more about the big business of chariot racing, and how we should think about money and wealth in the economies of the past. Presenter: Duncan Weldon Producer: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard

9 min
FEB 7

Is this Premier League striker a secret maths genius?

Chelsea striker Liam Delap has recently stunned fans on Instagram by apparently doing incredibly complicated calculations in his head, finding what’s known as the cube root of some very large numbers. But is he really a human calculator? Or is there something else going on? Tim Harford speaks to Rob Eastaway, mathematician and author of ‘Maths on the Back of an Envelope’ to learn about the trick you can use to pull this off - and while he’s here we also ask him about the trend of more goals being scored in the Premier League. Presenter: Tim Harford Producers: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard Credit: Video of Liam Delap from Chelsea’s Instagram account, chelseafc

9 min
JAN 31

Could Europe use its financial muscle to strong-arm the US?

Could European Nato members use their large holdings of US shares and bonds to put pressure on America? It’s a question that some in Europe found themselves asking as the geopolitical crisis over Greenland escalated and leaders desperately tried to think of ways to dissuade Donald Trump. It is true that trillions of dollars of American financial assets are held in Europe. But the devil, as ever, is in the detail. Tim Harford talks to Toby Nangle, a journalist with the Financial Times, to drill down into the numbers. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard

9 min
JAN 28

Can you get £71,000 on benefits?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: Is it true that someone needs to earn £71,000 before they receive more money than a family on benefits? Did Canadian prime minister Mark Carney get the GDP of Canada and the Nordic countries wrong? Are 1990s pop icons Right Said Fred right about what they said about church attacks? Is a sauna really ten times as hot as Wales in the winter? And Tim hits the science lab treadmill to find out if he can run a four-hour marathon. If you’ve seen a number in the news you want the team on More or Less to have a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk Contributors: Gareth Morgan, benefits expert and author of the Benefits in the Future blog Joe Shalam, policy director of the Centre for Social Justice Professor Kelly Morrison, head of physics at Loughborough University Dr Danny Muniz, a senior lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Hertfordshire Credits: Presenter: Tim Harford Reporters: Nathan Gower, Lizzy McNeill and Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Gareth Jones and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

29 min

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Tim Harford

Host
Tom Colls

Guest
Kelly Grieco

Guest
Alex Cui

Guest
Rob Eastaway

Guest
Toby Nangle

Guest
Richard Vadon

Guest
Jay Foreman

Guest
Mike Thompson

Guest
David Turver

Guest

4.7

out of 5

776 Ratings

Statistical literacy is sorely needed - thank you

2d ago

PototoNoroa

Even professionals in scientific fields often don’t have a real grounding in statistical interpretation. Not just reading the previous few papers in your field and copy pasting their statistical method. Real understanding. Capacity to know not just what, but why, and the limitations every approach to stats (even the best ones) have. That’s what we need.
Not Dismal

10/27/2024

takinite

The way ‘economics’ should be taught. However recently the FBI changed crime statistics up so mabe Trump was correct in the ‘debate’ such as it was. Thank you Mr Harford
Think please

12/28/2025

Future-is-bright

More or Less brings the research to the questions of the day! But you’ve been failing in your analysis. Your expert, university professor champions the idea that it’s not that big! The numbers provided were, the Trump administration says it’s 71B but your expert says a lot of that was refunded so it’s closer to 36B - the show takeaway was Trump is wrong again. More or Less has missed the point. Your program isn’t to split hairs. It should be to help people understand the numbers. The actual number your expert accepted was just half, 36B, but that is enough to worry about. More or less should have then said: the average grandma may 18k annually- 36B is the equivalent of 2,000,000 grandmas not getting paid!!! Many of the DOGE cuts are tied up in court but 7 million accounts were removed from Social Security and there’s been no outcry of grandmothers missing their checks, why? Because the closed accounts were predominantly fraudsters? But More or Less didn’t ask this question either. Think about the meaning of the statistics and not the actual number. If you are going to help people understand the numbers. I’m disappointed, I expect more from More or Less
ENGLAND PROTECTIONISM

03/30/2025

LSCSAIRCREW

It is amazing IAW this PODCAST England is never wrong.