Skip to main content
ABC News
Significant Digits For Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 (Thanksgiving Edition!)

You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. Happy Thanksgiving! We’ll be off until Monday.

About 1 pound

Holiday weight gain isn’t as bad as you’ve been told. Research has found that people, on average, gain about 1 pound during the holidays. Although, that can add up over the years. (Remember, fat doesn’t make you fat.) [FiveThirtyEight]


36.8 percent

That’s the percentage of respondents who said that President Trump was the issue most likely to provoke a Thanksgiving argument, up from 11.4 percent regarding then-President Obama in 2014. Just don’t bring Trump up. [FiveThirtyEight]


$49.12

Average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people, according to an American Farm Bureau survey. That’s about 75 cents cheaper than last year and the lowest price since 2013. [Time]


68 percent

I’ve got good news, I’ve got bad news and I’ve got terrible news. The good news is that on Thanksgiving, there will be a decent football game: The Detroit Lions are a 53-percent favorite against the Minnesota Vikings. The bad news is that the Dallas Cowboys are favored to beat the Los Angeles Chargers, with a 68 percent chance of doing so. The terrible news is that America will be subjected to the abysmal New York Giants in prime time. The second best team in New York has a 32 percent chance of beating Washington. [FiveThirtyEight]


$48.8 million

That’s the gross of Pixar’s new film, “Coco,” in Mexico — the best ever opening weekend in that market. “Coco” opens in the U.S. this weekend. (Note: Disney, which owns Pixar, also owns ESPN, which owns FiveThirtyEight.) [Variety]


$6.6 billion

Estimated amount of money that will be spent online next Monday as part of Cyber Monday, up 16.5 percent from last year. The period from Thanksgiving through Monday is expected to generate nearly $20 billion in online sales. [Bloomberg]


Check out Besides the Points, my new sports newsletter.

If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.

Walt Hickey was FiveThirtyEight’s chief culture writer.

Comments