Figure It Out is a light-hearted look at the numbers behind the news. Each week we take a vaguely topical subject, apply some mathematical thinking and see what we find.

If you have any ideas on topics for us to delve into, or have any additional thoughts on this week's, then do let us know.

If you have any problems that would benefit from an analytical approach then please get in touch at Operational Research UK.

Visit our Operational Research pages.