According to Gittins, there are about 1.05 million people in this age group in Australia. The 86,000 unemployed represent 28 per cent of the teenage workforce but only 8.2 per cent of the total population in that age group. By looking more closely at the numbers, we are now in a position to consider the 28 per cent figure in its proper context. The trend of using trends Trends are widely used by people such as economists, company executives and stock market brokers to help predict the future. But they can lead to absurd results.
Real trends are almost never in straight lines.
In this case the rate of improvement in athletic records gets slower and slower as we approach the limits of human performance. It is possible for something to decrease forever without reaching zero. Similarly, something can increase without becoming infinite. This can happen if the rate of increase or decrease is itself becoming less. So, the amount chiselled off each world athletics record will get smaller and smaller.