Surely thats very strange.....

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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.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

Back in 1975 I was working in an office in Regent Street. I received a letter from a friend in Cape Town where I am from originally , who had written to say that her cousin Joy was on a trip to London and perhaps I would bump into her. Of course this elicited much laughter in the office when I told my colleagues + explained that my friend couldnt possibly imagine the population of London + how silly it was to imagine I could possibly bump into her cousin That evening I left work about 10 minutes later than usual and the Piccadilly Circus underground was as crowded as usual - I arrived on my platform just as the tail lights of a train dissapeared. I managed to get onto the next train with a squeeze and as I reached up to hold onto the overhead hanging support handle the train jolted and I fell into somebody- I looked up to aplogise and ... yes, it was Joy on her way to Heathrow to catch her return flight. The friend who sent me the letter about Joy had no idea just how remote the possibility of bumping into her cousin was and sent a letter : "glad you managed to see Joy "
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Date submitted:Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:44:29 +0000Coincidence ID:4748