Examine a mathematical theory known as the “wisdom of crowds,” which holds that a crowd’s predictive ability is greater than that of an individual, in this video from NOVA: Prediction by the Numbers. Sir Francis Galton documented this phenomenon after witnessing a weight-guessing contest more than a hundred years ago at a fair. Statistician Talithia Williams tests Galton’s theory with modern-day fairgoers, asking them to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. Use this resource to stimulate thinking and questions about the use of statistics in everyday life and to make evidence-based claims about predictive ability.