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142 THE FASCINATION OF NUMBERS

In modern life, statistics are at the very heart of most of
our institutions. Everything is reduced to an average. The
cost of living index is based upon an average person’s prob-
able expenditure; polls of opinion are recorded from a
selected representative cross-section of the public; and
cricketers, to mention just one example, have tables com-
piled showing their average number of runs per innings.

In these, and in many other ways, numbers are accumu-
lated and treated (and often maltreated) in a number of
different ways. Their value lies primarily in showing trends
or in providing comparisons rather than in demonstrating
anything of a fixed nature, and also depends largely upon
the representative nature of the bases upon which they are
calculated. For example, a cricketer’s average may be
shown as 34-5 runs per innings even though it is quite impos-
sible to score ‘5 of a run in any circumstances. This average
may, however, be compared with his averages at other times
and also with the averages of other players, and so provides
useful comparisons.

All statistics have their inherent faults and must be treated
severely on their merits. A consensus opinion poll, carried
out among a thousand individuals, is no reliable guide to the
opinion of a nation, no matter how apparently representative
is the selection of the individuals questioned. And again, the
average person, upon whose estimated expenditure so many
statistics depend, just does not exist. Nevertheless these
details do, when considered in the proper manner, give clues
to trends in income and expenditure which are of immense
value to the economist.

Once the statistics are accumulated, emphasis then rests
upon the correct presentation and understanding of them.
The cynic will tell you that figures will prove anything, and
it is true that although there may be only one set of figures,
they can be so presented in different ways as to purport to
show quite different trends, in the same way as photographs
of the same room, taken from different angles, appear to
reproduce different rooms.