40 years later

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.

While holidaying in France my husband wanted to show me a house of a Swiss friend of a friend in a village in which he'd spent a memorable time in his youth some 40 years ago. We got lost on the way and had difficulties finding parking space. After getting out of the car, I walked ahead and entered the village by one road but my husband said that we should turn around and take the other parallel road, which was closer to the house. To his disappointment, however, he couldn't recall which of a small row of houses it had been. We stood there for some time, but he finally gave up and we decided to explore the village. Just then, a priest in a cassock appeared ahead of us, followed by a cat close at his heels. We turned to watch that unlikely couple walk by and, at that very moment, saw a woman leave one of the houses my husband had been looking at and enter a car. My husband thought he recognised her and immediately ran back: it turned out to be one of the original owners who was just about to return to Switzerland after a short stay at the house.
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Date submitted:Mon, 10 Jan 2022 12:33:18 +0000Coincidence ID:12239