Countries aiming to flatten the coronavirus curve have one crucial aim: reduce the “effective reproduction number” of the virus to below 1. This means the spread is slowing, rather than accelerating.
Health workers take their lunch on April 7 – the date COVID-19 deaths peaked in England and Wales.
Vickie Flores/EPA
Three graphs of mortality data tell the story of the direction the UK and the world are heading in after the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.
A statistics professor used his expertise in calculating probabilities to come up with a 98 winning percentage for Tim Hortons popular Roll up the Rim contest.
(Photo Illustration/The Conversation)
Tim Hortons changed Roll up the Rim to include a digital element. A statistician correctly predicted that playing on the last day of the contest would dramatically increase the odds of winning.
The reporting of South Africa’s first COVID-19 case sparked a racialised discourse that persists.
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Researchers and public health officials still don’t know how widespread nor how deadly the coronavirus really is. Random testing is a way to quickly and easily learn this important information.
When leaders make public health decisions, such as how long social distancing should be maintained to reduce the coronavirus death toll, they often use mathematical models. The numbers aren’t always as simple as they seem.
Alex Brandon/AP
A lot of numbers are being tossed around about COVID-19 and what to expect in the future. They’re being used to make critical public health decisions, but they aren’t as simple as they appear.
Struggling to tell your daily infections from your cumulative counts, or a linear from a log scale? Here are a few pointers to help you master the deluge of data about the COVID-19 pandemic.
New cases daily for COVID-19 in world and top countries.
Chris55 /wikipedia
Countries have been trying to count their populations since the Han dynasty in China.
By adding a ‘digital roll’ to its iconic game, Tim Hortons’ Roll up the Rim contest now has some statistical similarities to slot machines.
(Photo Illustration/The Conversation)
The Tim Hortons coffee chain has made some changes to its iconic Roll up the Rim contest, including the addition of “digital rolls.” A statistician explains how this changes the odds of winning.
Some U.S. workplaces can be dangerous.
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Scrambling it is much easier than solving it. But it still involves some fascinating questions, such as the number of random moves needed to consider the cube truly messed up.
The simple dice can provide an introduction to statistics.
Steve Johnson
Wages, starlight and polls can all be interpreted using statistics. While probabilities, medians and noise can be challenging, a simple dice can provide insights into statistics.
How likely is it that everyone in a family Kris Kringle will draw their own partner? It took a roomful of mathematicians to find out.
A big discrepancy exists between the actual threat of mass shootings and the way the public perceives that threat.
Tatiana Akhmetgalieva/Shutterstock.com
You’re just as likely to be a victim of a mass shooting as you are to be struck by lightning. So why do nearly 50% of Americans say they’re afraid of being caught in the crossfire?
South Africa’s data collection is constantly improving. That’s especially true when it comes to metrics that weren’t collected or were distorted for political purposes during apartheid.
Professor, Future Fellow and Head of Statistics at UNSW, and a Deputy Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS), UNSW Sydney