Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Numbers Rule Your World summary
Kaiser Fung
The Hidden Influence of Probability and Statistics on Everything You Do
12 mins
Table of Contents
Numbers Rule Your World
summarized in 5 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 5
According to statisticians, variations from the average are more relevant than the average itself.
Have you ever been at an amusement park, waiting in line for a ride in the hot sun thinking, “if they just had one or two more roller coasters, all the lines would be shorter”? While it may seem that adding attractions would lead to quicker queues, it’s actually not the case.
Why?
According to statisticians, and using the example of Disney World, it’s the varying pattern of when guests arrive at the amusement park, and not the average number of guests arriving, that makes the lines so mind-numbingly long. Since lines form when demand exceeds capacity, it seems logical that if Disney World accurately predicted demand, they could build capacity to accommodate it. Unfortunately, it’s not so simple.
Statisticians are positive that even if Disney could accurately predict the number of park visitors hopping on the Dumbo ride on a peak day, a line would still form because guests come at irregular intervals throughout the day, and because the ride’s capacity remains fixed. So, planning for capacity can deal with average rises in demand, but not with fluctuating demand.
Disney has come to deal with this issue using a feature called FastPass, which entitles guests to come back to a ride at a designated time and jump into an express lane. FastPass works because it reduces the variability of guests arriving at any given time. So, while it doesn’t change the ride goers’ actual waiting times, it does give them the freedom to enjoy other activities in the meantime, thereby boosting customer satisfaction.
But theme parks aren’t the only place this logic plays out: statisticians can point to the same trend in traffic jams. Just like at Disney World, highway congestion is the result of suddenly high volumes of cars, which exceed the road’s average capacity.
To deal with this issue, the Minnesota Department of Transportation uses a technique called “ramp metering”, in which traffic lights on ramps regulate the pace at which cars enter the highway, thereby stabilizing the number of cars on the road.
Want to see all full key ideas from Numbers Rule Your World?
Key ideas in Numbers Rule Your World
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Numbers Rule Your World about?
Numbers Rule Your World (2010) is a guide to statistical reasoning and how you can use concrete statistical information productively to understand as well as improve your world. These blinks walk the reader through the five key principles of statistics and how they can be applied to improve decision making in various contexts.
Best quote from Numbers Rule Your World
One can, in fact, define statistics as the study of the nature of variability.
—Kaiser Fung
Who should read Numbers Rule Your World?
- People interested in statistics and how they apply to everyday life
- Anyone keen to reap the benefits of statistical thinking
Categories with Numbers Rule Your World
Books like Numbers Rule Your World
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
26 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers