Birthday coincidence - sort of
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.
16 years ago I went on a Project Management course in Bournemouth. On the first evening, as soon as everyone had arrived, we all had dinner together in the hotel's restaurant. About halfway the meal there was a a tap on my shoulder and I turned to face two of my new course colleagues. "Excuse me," one of them said, "I hope you don't mind me asking a rather odd question, but when is your birthday?" I had a flash of insight - there were about 20 of us on the course and I just instinctively knew that my questioner had been telling his dinner partner that in a group of 23 people there is a fifty-fifty chance of two people sharing a birthday. As it happened, it was my birthday that day, and I said as much. "Oh, many happy returns," he exclaimed, putting out his hand to shake mine, "me too!"
Date submitted:Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:55:59 +0000Coincidence ID:6059
