International Phone Call
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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.
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Back in the 1980s I was working in IT in France. I had a direct line to my office to which only 2 people knew the number, my French wife and an American colleague in the N. Carolina. When the phone rang one evening I answered "Hello" and when a female voice responded "Hi John", I knew it wasn't my wife. After about 1 minute exchanging the usual banalities about the weather we both realised that neither of us was talking to the person we expected. She was in New York ringing an English friend, also called John, had dialled the wrong French number. but had received the English greeting she was expecting!
Date submitted:Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:34:42 +0000Coincidence ID:6988
