(Book) Highlights: Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos

the experimenters because they think it can be proved by mathematics; and the mathematicians because they believe it has been established by observation.’ (Location 5379)

Human populations may be getting taller as a whole – due to better nutrition and public (Location 5397)

In a mathematical context, regression to the mean is the statement that an extreme event is likely to be followed by a less extreme event. (Location 5400)

We know from experience that families with above-average-sized parents tend to have above-average-sized kids. We also know that the shortest guy in the class probably comes from a family (Location 5406)

with adults of correspondingly diminutive stature. In other words, the height of a child is not totally random in relation to the height of his parents. (Location 5407)

The line had a gradient of . In other words for every inch taller than the average that the mid-parent was, the child would only be of an inch taller than the average. (Location 5413)

Galton called the gradient of the line the coefficient of correlation. (Location 5416)

Since we have proved that c is bigger than , it must be the case that there are more points on a line between 0 and 1 than there are points that represent fractions on the entire number line. (Location 5896)

The line hits the semicircle at a point that is a unique distance between (Location 5909)