MATHS IN THE PAPERS Maths and Statistics October - December 2002

Numbers of people attending Church of England services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day rises by 169% compared to average attendance at Sunday worship.

Harrod’s Christmas World is open for five months every year.

The average person spent 15 hours looking for Christmas gifts last year, in 5 trips covering 20 miles.

It is expected that online shopping this year will amount to £1.3bn.

The average Briton spends £360 on Christmas gifts.

4.5m mobile phones were given as Christmas gifts in Britain last year.

Observer magazine 15/12/02

According to US scientists, there is further evidence that northern parts of the globe are warming up. Latest findings from the American Geophysical Union show that the ice sheet in Greenland is melting and shrubs are spreading into the Alaskan tundra. They say that the melt area has grown 16% since 1979.

Ananova 9/12/02

Nicole Wong spent three years building up a collection of 99,999 paper hearts, mostly made from bus tickets, which she presented to her husband on their wedding day in Singapore. According to Chinese tradition, the number nine is associated with everlasting love and affection.

Ananova 8/12/02

Odd numbers
Statistics

The average life expectancy of a man in the 5^th century was 30 years.

A Taiwanese couple hold the record for the longest marriage, at 85 years. They have a total of 100 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

20% of Europeans are aged 60 or over.

5% of Africans are aged 60 or over.

Numbers of UK centenarians are increasing by 7% per year.

Observer magazine 1/12/02

A very wet month across England and Wales and south-eastern parts of Scotland. It was much drier than average across north-west Scotland. Most eastern areas experienced a very dull month, but in contrast western areas were sunnier than average. The temperature in Redesdale in Northumberland fell to -6.6 °C early on the 20th, thereafter more unsettled weather prevailed as Atlantic lows swept very mild moist air across the region. Many places had a very wet 36 hours from late 20th to early 22nd causing local flooding. Llanbedr in Gwynedd reached 15.4 °C on the 23rd.

www.met-office.gov.uk Decmeber 2002

Unholy number
Statistics

Two vicars from Greater Manchester have been preached to by the DVLA before being allowed to purchase a number plate for their car which contained the numbers 666. The vicars, who are husband and wife, were told that 666 was the devil’s number. They paid £250 for the ‘Number of the Beast’ to amuse their congregation at Stockport United Reform Church.

Ananova 28/11/02

45% of Americans believe the world was created 8,000 years ago.

Charles Darwin held back on publication of his theory of evolution for 21 years, fearing that it would make Christians angry.

Observer magazine 24/11/02

The average Briton watches 24.5 hours of television per week.

22,739,999 votes were cast during the third UK Big Brother series.

25,960,000 votes were cast during the 2001 UK General Election.

Observer Magazine 10/11/02

Some local councils are claiming that they face losing millions of pounds in funding due to underestimation of population in government census figures. Westminster city council has called on the office of national statistics to launch a census recount. It says that many of the 31 local authorities where large drops in numbers have been found also share its concerns. Census figures released a month ago showed Westminster’s population 26% below previous estimates. As funding is issued on a per capita basis, the council could lose up to £40m. Westminster says its population is in the region of 231,000 rather than the ONS figure of 181,279.

The Guardian 5/11/02

November has been a very mild and wet month, the only exception being north-west Scotland, which received less than average rainfall.

80mm of rain fell overnight on the 13^th/14^th in Penzance, with severe flooding there and in St Ives. It was the wettest November for Northern Ireland since 1963.

www.met-office.gov.uk November 2002

19% of Britons are clinically obese.

3% of Japanese are clinically obese.

£114 can be saved on two peak-time train returns if a car is bought at auction, taxed, insured, filled with petrol and driven from London to Newcastle and back.

43% of driving test entrants passed their test in 2001.

A car is stolen somewhere in the world every ten seconds.

Observer magazine 3/11/02

Increase in holiday complaints
Statistics

Figures published by the Trading Standards Institute show an alarming increase in customer complaints from dissatisfied holidaymakers. There were 12,551 complaints in 2000, this figure rose to 28,502 last year. Most complaints concerned package holidays, and included travel agents who didn't mention hidden costs, or who advertised holidays which had already been sold.

The Guardian 26/10/02

October weather
Statistics

A cool and wet month across most of the UK. However, there were some exceptions to this, with the far south-east of England and north-west of Scotland, receiving less than normal rainfall.

Aberdeen had its wettest October reporting 230.4 mm, and the 4th wettest of any month, since readily available records back to 1924.

www.met-office.gov.uk October 2002

Conditions in rural China
Statistics

Nearly 500,000 people have been resettled off the flood plains in the Jiangxi province of China, since the great flood four years ago, and embankments along Lake Jiangxi have been breached to let the lake return to its natural size. There are severe problems in rural China, with wages stagnating and 1 in 4 people leaving rural life to look for work in urban centres. Even with this movement towards the cities, because of population growth the number of country dwellers remains fairly constant at 800 million. According to some figures, last year more than 88 million migrant workers were living away from home, mostly in hard, dirty and unsafe conditions.

The Guardian 19/10/02

Odd Numbers
Statistics

The Bayeux tapestry is 230 feet long

100,000 Huguenots migrated to Britain in the 17^th century to escape persecution in France.

The average life expectancy of a pedigree dog is 6 years.

The average life expectancy of a mongrel dog is 11 years

The Observer Magazine 13/10/02

Most popular names for babies
Statistics

Jack has been the most popular name for boys for the past seven years and Chloe has been the most popular girls' name for the past seven years.

www.statistics.gov.uk October 2002

Fall in number of divorces
Statistics

In 2000, the number of divorces granted in the UK fell by 2.6 per cent (from 158,746 in 1999 to 154,628 in 2000). This continued the downward trend since the 1993 peak of 180,000.

In 1961 there were 27,000 divorces in the United Kingdom. This doubled by 1969 to 55,000 and then doubled again by 1972, to almost 125,000.

www.statistics.gov.uk October 2002

In 1999-2001 82 per cent of men aged 17 and over, held full car driving licenses, but only 60 per cent of women. Licence holding has increased rapidly among women, rising by over a fifth since 1989-1991. The proportion of men holding licences changed little during the same period. The distance travelled on foot fell by 20 per cent during the 1990s to 189 miles per person per year, accounting for under 3 per cent of the total distance travelled. Since 1989-1991 the proportion of primary aged children walking to school has declined from 62 to 54 per cent. There was an increase from 27 to 39 per cent in the numbers being driven to school. For secondary school pupils there was a similar, though smaller, shift from walking to car use, and a small increase in bus use.

www.statistics.gov.uk October 2002