Another example comes from the English theologian John Lightfoot who knew about the power of precision: ‘Heaven and earth and everything that comes with it, was created by the Trinity at the same moment: On Sunday, October 21st, 4004 BC, at 9 am’.

Though the historian had exaggerated immensely (the real number was closer to 15,000), he made a very well informed impression and the victory of the Greeks shone in a glorious light. This trick has already been known in Ancient Greece: Herodotus wrote after the Persian war that the enemy’s army counted 5,283,220 men. If a footballer or pilot dies at young age due to an accident or illness, those cases carry more weight than in the other professions, because they are offset by less cases that die at high age.Ĭlothes make the man and digits make numbers - the more precise numbers are, the more trust we put into them. Accordingly, there are on average more young pilots and professional footballers than young teachers or physicians. Real professional footballers only came up in the 60s and the aero industry has grown exponentially in the last years. The reason is that in this study, professions are compared that are not open to a direct comparison, because a third variable (besides profession and age) disrupts the investigation: the average age. What is the reason for this? Dangerous working conditions, too much stress at the football field, too many aircraft accidents? No. While pilots and professional football players die under the age of 60 on average, teachers and physicians live significantly longer. The results of the study are astonishing. In a (fictitious) study, the average age at the time of death for various professions is collected. The sentence ‘You can prove anything with statistics’ is only true for the lazy people who do not feel like taking a closer look.’ Those who know how to handle them will be less open to manipulation. To put it with the German statistician Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann: ‘For me, statistics are the information medium for the responsible.

Please remember: Despite their bad reputation, statistics have a great importance attached to them. That is why we introduce you to some of their favorite tricks and juggleries. We want you to be prepared for the charlatans of statistics out there.

How to lie using statistics