BBC has been running a series of articles on their website about numbers, in particular how numbers are used and abused so we are made to believe they are telling us something they are not. The articles are good if you want to enhance your financial literacy. Here are some sample quotes from the articles:

• On averages: “What’s the average number of feet? No, not two. The answer is slightly less. Think about it.”
• On percentages: “A 100% increase from one in a million becomes two in a million. So what?”
• On causation: “As more economists are recruited to the Treasury, inflation rises (economists cause inflation?)”

Enjoy!

• Lesson One: Our survey says
• Lesson Two: Myth of counting
• Lesson Three: Percentages
• Lesson Four: Averages
• Lesson Five: Causation (The website shows it as being lesson four, a bit embarrasing to get it wrong considering the articles are about numbers)