More or Less was broadcast on Tuesday, 19 November, 2002 at 1600 GMT on BBC Radio 4.

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You thought phone tariffs were complicated? Think again, because they may be even worse than you imagined.

More or Less investigates the mass of complexity in the apparently simple business of charging for a call.

We also apply the latest cutting edge mathematical research to stone skimming - known as ducks and drakes in the US, or ricochet in France.

Find out the secret to successful skimming and see if equations can make a difference.

And a rare interview with Mervyn King, one of Britain's leading economists, deputy governor of the Bank of England and the man responsible for the Bank's inflation report.

How do we produce a single number for something as varied as the movement of every price in a whole country?

Producer: Michael Blastland
Editor: Nicola Meyrick