Many statisticians will be among the 160 million people around the world glued to the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Yet even those with zero interest in kitsch pop music will enjoy our expert analysis of the statistics behind Eurovision’s notoriously peculiar and easy-to-abuse scoring system and its (ostensibly less peculiar and harder-to-abuse) replacement for 2023. Meanwhile, our cover feature celebrates a somewhat quieter, simpler spectacle - the mathematical beauty hidden in a 'particularly messy corner of statistical theory'.
April issue highlights:
Eurovision voting: a game of two halves
As Liverpool prepares to host this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of last year’s winner, Ukraine, Andrew Gustar investigates the statistics of the competition’s scoring system.
Food poverty: a scale unimagined
When Dan Clarkson volunteered to help at a UK food bank, he discovered how statistics and data analysis can help organisations assess need, plan for demand, and better understand the extent of food poverty.
Seen to be done?
In criminal justice, the controversial peremptory challenge allows lawyers to dismiss potential jury members without giving a reason. Chris Salahub gathers data to paint a picture of racial bias in jury selection.
The beauty of binomial coverage curves
Matt Stapleton sheds light on the baffling behaviour of binomial interval coverage and demonstrates how to find your way through the chaos.
Product reliability: How statistics fits in
Customers demand, and manufacturers strive for, increasingly higher product reliability. Statistics plays a key role in achieving this. Necip Doganaksoy, William Q. Meeker and Gerald J. Hahn explain how.
Interview: Nonhlanhla Yende-Zuma
Nonhlanhla Yende-Zuma is head of biostatistics at global research organisation CAPRISA in Durban, South Africa. She has been named one of Bill Gates’s 'Heroes in the Field' – those 'putting in the real work to improve lives' – and has her sights set on a future in global policy-making. Anna Britten finds out more.
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