The other side of the world

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.

Many years ago I backpacked around the world. Before I left I would regularly discuss some my plans, as much as they were, with friends including a girl who told me her boss was interested in doing the same and would I mind if she shared some tips with him. I duly agreed and for a while, through her, we swapped a few ideas, but never met him before I left. Some five months later I'm staying in an out-of-the-way hostel on the edge of Sydney, Australia when another backpacker arrives. That evening we get chatting and he discloses he worked for the same (large) firm as my friend back in the UK. A little futher questioning and he turns out to be the very man my friend was passing tips to. I'd never disclosed my precise itinery; exactly where I was going and when, and certainly not which hostels I'd be staying in as I simply didn't know myself.
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Date submitted:Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:03:41 +0000Coincidence ID:4793