Main content

Spreadsheet disasters

What happens when spreadsheets go wrong?

The UK鈥檚 Office for National Statistics recently published some dramatically incorrect data - all because of a spreadsheet slip-up. But that鈥檚 just the most recent in a long list of times when spreadsheets have gone wrong, often with costly consequences

Stand-up mathematician Matt Parker takes us through a short history of spreadsheet mistakes.

Presenter:Tim Harford
Producer: Nathan Gower
Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Engineer: John Scott

(Financial analyst using spreadsheet software. Credit: Andrey Popov/Getty Images)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 13 Feb 2023 10:50GMT
91福利社 World Service

More episodes

Previous

The IMF and the UK economy, NHS staff shortages and British v English

Next

Nurses' pay, ambulance times and forgotten female economists

See all episodes from More or Less

Broadcasts

  • Sat 11 Feb 2023 05:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service except Australasia
  • Sat 11 Feb 2023 22:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Sun 12 Feb 2023 00:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
  • Sun 12 Feb 2023 14:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service Australasia & News Internet only
  • Sun 12 Feb 2023 22:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Mon 13 Feb 2023 00:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service Australasia, South Asia & East Asia only
  • Mon 13 Feb 2023 10:50GMT
    91福利社 World Service

Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU

Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.

When can you trust statistics?

When can you trust statistics?

91福利社 Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.

Podcast

  • More or Less

    Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life