Social Security Number

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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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I dated a woman for 5 years. About 3 years into our relationship, I was helping her fill out financial aid forms for a university program, and saw her social security number. I immediately noticed that the last four digits were the exact reverse of my own (e.g. EHGD vs DGHE). The coincidence did our relationship no good in the long run, but we both remarked at how improbable that must be. It struck us first that it would be fairly uncommon to share such a number with someone you knew; very uncommon to share it with a romantic partner; and (given the sensitivity of a Social Security Number) extremely uncommon to actually find out that you shared the number.
Total votes: 637
Date submitted:Tue, 23 Feb 2016 19:54:30 +0000Coincidence ID:8408