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Missing Planes

Could Bayesian statistics help find Flight MH370?

Could a branch of statistics named after an 18th Century mathematician, Thomas Bayes, be used to find flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing?

Senior analyst Colleen Keller, from Metron Inc in the US, tells More or Less how her team used Bayesian statistics to help locate the wreckage of Air France flight 447 from Brazil to France which disappeared in 2009.

This niche form of statistical modelling has been used to find everything from submarines to missing people. Could it help locate MH370?

(Image: Heart and a plane made from lighted candles, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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11 minutes

Last on

Mon 24 Mar 201403:50GMT
BBC World Service Online

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Broadcasts

  • Sat 22 Mar 201411:50GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sun 23 Mar 201423:50GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Mon 24 Mar 201403:50GMT
    BBC World Service Online

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