More or Less

Finding out if Nigerian politicians really get paid more than the American President.

Counting the favourite words of well-known authors: Stephen King, Hemingway and others

Did the 2016 US election galvanise young people to become more engaged in politics?

The behavioural economist who has inspired governments around the world.

Naming the monster numbers - how the names of digital storage files evolved.

Do the largest ships emit as much pollution as all the cars in the world?

Is Uber safe? The post Brexit dual nationality surge and measuring partner abuse.

How much of a problem is falling sperm count?

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is accused of mis-using official statistics.

What’s the best way to measure a hurricane?

Has the number of natural disasters really quadrupled in the last forty years?

Is the UK the only country with more horses than tanks in its army?

Will we need more power stations? Plus, are children in Manchester ready for school?

Experts are saying that Houston just suffered a one in 500 year storm but what does that mean?

The difficulties of finding the true number of people who died in the fire.

Figuring out the best strategy as a wannabe team manager.

Are boys getting more top A Level grades than girls? Plus why are dress sizes so weird?

During a recent press conference President Trump said: “I’ve created over a million jobs since I’m president. The country is booming. The stock market is setting records. We’ve got the highest employment numbers we have ever had I the history of our country.” This is not the first time the American President has taken credit for a booming economy. But is that fair? We take a look at the numbers.

President Trump says transgender individuals cannot serve, but how many do already?

On Tuesday Kenyans go to the polls to elect members of parliament and the next president. A report in Quartz Africa has estimated that the cost of putting on the election by the Government works out at around $25 per head – $480 million in total. It also estimated that it cost Rwanda $1 a head, and Uganda $4 a head to lay on elections. Recently an expert on this programme estimated that the UK Gen...

Exploring if an influx of teenage boys claiming asylum skewed the population’s sex ratio

Celebrating the only woman to win the biggest prize in mathematics.

Using statistics to prove or disprove the wisdom of tennis is the theme this week. In this digital age we are used to information at our fingertips. This week More or Less finds out how every rally, every shot at this tennis championship is counted and makes its way to our phones, desktops and TV screens. And once you have this information – what can you do with it? Is it useful for players and co...

Are top basketball players underpaid? The American basketballer Stephen Curry has just signed the biggest contract in NBA history. The new deal will pay him $200 million over 5 years but amazingly, according to fellow superstar player Lebron James, he’s probably being underpaid. It may sound ridiculous but economists agree. How can this be true? We look at the economics of superstar sports salarie...

It’s the 100 year centenary of an obscure type of prime number – the Woodall Primes. To celebrate, stand-up mathematician Matt Parker is calling on listeners to search for a new one. Ordinary citizens can already help search for Mersenne Prime numbers by lending computer processing power to GIMPS – the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. Matt explains to Tim Harford what a Woodall Prime is, and...