Insensitivity to sample size is a cognitive bias in which people judge the odds of a result without considering how large the sample is. Small samples vary more than large ones, so they produce extreme results far more often. In a famous experiment by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, a town had a large hospital with about 45 births a day and a small one with about 15. Asked which hospital recorded more days with over 60 percent boys, 56 percent of subjects said the two were about the same. In fact the smaller hospital is far more likely to record such days, because its daily figures swing more widely. Even statistically trained psychologists often made the same error.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.