---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Belief in the Law of Small Numbers."
description: "\"“Belief in the Law of Small Numbers.”\" — Daniel Kahneman"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f9/daniel-kahneman-431_belief_belief-in-the-law-of-small-numbers-4428_4428.jpg"
---

#  Belief in the Law of Small Numbers.

![“Belief in the Law of Small Numbers.” quote by Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f9/daniel-kahneman-431_belief_belief-in-the-law-of-small-numbers-4428_4428.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f9/daniel-kahneman-431_belief_belief-in-the-law-of-small-numbers-4428_4428.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f9/daniel-kahneman-431_belief_belief-in-the-law-of-small-numbers-4428_4428.jpg)

> ““Belief in the Law of Small Numbers.””

[Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

People mistakenly believe small samples reflect broader patterns, leading to overconfidence in limited data.

**In simple terms:** Small samples mislead about reality.

Key Takeaway

The law of small numbers is a cognitive bias.

Themes

bias statistics decision‑making probability

Mood

analytical cautious

Type

educational scientific observation

When to use this quote

- medical trials
- market research
- personal anecdotes used as evidence

Key Concepts

representativeness heuristic sample size fallacy

Practical Applications

- use larger, random samples
- apply statistical confidence intervals

Questions to Reflect On

- How can we train intuition to respect sample size?
- When is a small sample legitimately reliable?

A Different Perspective

May underplay contexts where small samples are informative.

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[Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Small numbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/small-numbers/)

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