Cambridge Coincidences Collection

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Can't be a coincedence type of coincedence

Let's say you meet a service person (person working a register) at a gas station, you see them twice a week every week and you talk to them for a few minutes as you pay for your gas and items. This goes on for 6 months or so. Then you move to another city. Two years later, you see them again, lets say now it's at your bank in your new city (they are a teller) still providing a service for you, and they remember you from two years ago. Is that coincidence or has that happened for a reason? This happened to me. I am the type of person that seems to attract this type of thing, but usually it's the situation that I am faced with more than once, like seeing certain numbers that keep reappearing everywhere, like on a receipt, then at a friends house when we order pizza. That's my second time meeting someone that I had met already. The first time, it happened because we had worked together and ended up having a mutual friend that worked with us, so we meet at work, then again at a friend's house. That turned into a three year relationship which was a good relationship.

Small world coincidence

On my Gap year I did Raleigh international in Malaysia. On my expedition of 80 people, three had been to Cambridge, one was a geographer and one was at Downing college. After I left the expedition, I was at a cheap hostel in KL and got talking to a fellow traveller who had done Geography and been at Downing and knew those two people (one well, one not very well).

Black Pearl and the Minions

I was just in the middle of making cartoons with speech bubbles using the Minions characters from Despicable Me whilst watching Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl. I had just entered the text into the bubble for one of the Minions to say which read 'Did it work?'. At that very second one of the characters in the Pirate film uttered the words 'Did it work?'.

The 3 C's

A woman started working at my office and introduced herself. We were both surprised we hadn't met before because we knew many of the same people. But neither of us had even heard the other's name. Where things get weird is, my initials are CCC. So are hers. (Her first name is Cara and mine is Claire--I'm keeping the other names private.) We are the same age. She has two daughters and a stepchild. I have two daughters and a stepchild. We both divorced men named Nick several years prior and then got together with men we worked with. We do, and always have done, the same job/position in the same city. We both have long dark hair. (That's not that big a deal but in light of everything else...)

We meet again

For the past three year I have had class with the same guy. The first two my friends were always telling me that he had a crush on me but I never saw him as more then a friend. Then the third year I stated having a bit of a crush on him, although nothing happened. This year we share 0 classes so I told my self that it was time to move on even though he was still a friend I would barely see him. Then about 200 students from all different science classes were arranged in groups of three-four people and we ended up in the same group. What are the odds of this happening?

You Have My Dream House I Have Yours

When house hunting I fell in love with a refinished Victorian. When we went to bid on it, it had already been bought. I cried, I loved this cute little home, I felt like it was meant for me. There were a few reminisce boxes from the previous owner in the house I live in now. I dismissed & set them aside for years. Then I felt bad come one Christmas & I thought maybe the previous owner would want these items. So I went thru the boxes. I found out the owners last name and googled it. Come to find she lives in the Victorian house I wanted. We've never met & I never returned the Christmas items to her but I should, shouldn't I?

19 boys

My wife's family has lots of boys, so the news that our next grandchild will be a girl has caused us to count them up. Since my wife's birth there have been no fewer than 19 successive boys born in her parents' line (she also has two older brothers). Together the three of them have had 7 boys, who in turn have had 12 boys. Fortunately the chances of this happening are easy to calculate - either 1 in 2^19 or 1 in 2^18 if one specifies 'boys' rather than 'same sex', i.e. 1/524288 or 1/262144, impressive numbers either way. Some members of the family think we have a biological propensity for boys, but I think it's just a coincidence...

Cakes and pies

I was reading your excellent blog on coincidences, when I stumbled upon a fascinating story about pie. I was considering whether the universe would be able to suststain the numerous contradictions and paradoxes that this would entail (as well as the entertaining notion of mathematical Pi being brought into the story), when all of a sudden, my maths teacher presented me with a cake. It wasn't exactly a pie, but it was close enough. What were the chances of that?????????

All the 8s

Some friends and I once met in a bar where we sometimes converged. Being peckish, I ordered a bowl of chips and was given a wooden spoon with the order number 8 on it. The food came and the spoon was taken. A few minutes later, more friends arrived, ordered food at the bar, and came to our table with the spoon of 8. "8s always follow me around," I declared. "I was born on the 8th of the 8th, '80, which meant I was 8 on the 8th of the 8th, '88." "Oh yeah," retorted a cynical friend, looking at his watch. "The 23rd of June - 8s everywhere." "No," I concurred, taking a second glance at his watch. "But it is 8 minutes past 8."

Pie Pie Pie !

On a hot summer day I was craving for some pie. Exactly 314 seconds later (3.14=π so 314=100π), a hundred pies fell out of the sky onto my head. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't able to eat any of'em , but it was an event bizarre as hell.

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