Crossed Lines
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.
Back in the late fifties when outside telephone calls were routed through the Establishment's telephone exchange my boss asked the operator for a Tatsfield (Kent) number to speak to a Mr Griffiths, manager of the BBC's listening station there, in order to arrange a visit. When the connection had been made my boss enquired if he was speaking to Mr Griffiths and received an affirmative. He then set about explaining the purpose of the call to an increasingly puzzled Mr Griffiths. It transpired that the operator had misheard the name of the exchange and had made the call to the required number but through the Hatfield exchange where it reached a different Mr Griffiths.
Date submitted:Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:23:07 +0000Coincidence ID:7007
