Tool for journalists: Omni Calculator, for fact-checking your maths

Credit: Tetiana Bykovets on Unsplash

What is it: A website featuring hundreds of calculators that allow journalists to convert pretty much any piece of data into another unit.

Cost: Free

How is it of use to journalists?

Most journalists do not feel comfortable with maths. But good data makes a story stronger and it often helps the reader understand complex topics. Not to say that the correct use of numbers is essential for trustworthy reporting.

To help you out, Omni Calculator, a Polish startup, created hundreds of custom-built calculators that solve real-life problems.

You find just about anything there: Lawn Mowing Cost Calculator, Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator, Steps to Calories Calculator, Snowman Calculator, or our favourite Weird Units Converter that allows you to convert, for example, a distance into the number of chocolate bars or Harry Potter books.

On top of the handy calculators, you can also download a free guide Making it Count that will help you master the basics of data journalism and learn to fact-check your maths.

The guide has some serious backing. "We interviewed journalists from different fields to narrow down the most common numerical struggles and collaborated with reporters contributing to Reuters, CNN, Rappler, and the Asset Magazine, as well as scientists from the UK, Poland, Italy, and South Africa," project manager Reina Sagnip told Journalism.co.uk.

"It tackles statistical reporting, common calculations, fact-checking, and data visualisation."

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