Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Why? By recording your coincidence stories here, you can help him build a picture of what kinds of coincidences are out there and which ones seem to ‘get to’ us the most. Your coincidence stories can also help him explore the scientific explanations which may account for them – whether by doing the maths to calculate the chances of a coincidence, or speculating on the weird and wonderful workings of our brains.

Coincidences tend to be ‘surprising matches’ – sometimes they are lucky, sometimes unlucky, sometimes just mind-boggling. To help you recall the coincidences that have happened in your life, here’s a list of some common types of coincidence:

• Surprising repetitions: for instance when you’ve had not contact with someone for ages, then find two connections to them very close together in time. Or when over several years multiple members of the same family are born with the same birthday. Or even a repetition of a really rare event – like winning the lottery twice, or your life being saved twice by the same person!
• Simultaneous events: for example when two people phone each other at exactly the same time.
• Parallel lives: such as when two people in a small group find they share a birthday or an unusual name, or when two people discover their lives match each other in bizarre details.
• Uncanny patterns: imagine picking letters in Scrabble that spell your name.
• Unlikely chains of events: perhaps you lost your false teeth overboard and found them inside a fish you caught twenty years later?

If anything coincidental has happened to you - anything that made you stop and say "well, what were the chances of that..?" - then please record your story in the form below! Please try to keep your story personal - about you or someone you know. The only thing we'd ask you to steer clear of are premonitions or déjà vu, purely because - whilst fascinating - they're quite common and also difficult to analyse.

You could also tell us about coincidences in the news, but please provide a link to a reliable source!

Title: two or three words that give a simple description of your story, eg ‘old friend’ or ‘birthday coincidence’
Coincidence: tell your coincidence story - and please include plenty of relevant detail (places, dates, numbers etc.) and include your first name if you want.
Email address (optional): please leave an email address, as then we can get in touch to find out more!

How'd this happen?

In the Spring 2020 semester, the following problems were given on an exam in my introductory statistics courses: The quiz scores in a statistics class of size n = 13 were as follows: 8, 4, 7, 9, 9, 6, 5, 6, 7, 10, 8, 3, 3 Problems 1. Assume that the sample of quiz scores represents a simple random sample from a normal distribution with an unknown mean and a known standard deviation of 2.40. Obtain the 88% confidence interval for the mean. 2. Suppose now that we are unwilling to assume that the population standard deviation is known. Obtain the 87% confidence interval for the mean. Solutions 1. To 6 decimal places the solution is (5.503542, 7.573381). 2. To 6 decimal places the solution is (5.503545, 7.573378).
Date submitted:Sun, 20 Jun 2021 02:18:25 +0000Coincidence ID:11293

gamesell ru

https://gamerfree.ru/fkey/3018564
Date submitted:Sat, 19 Jun 2021 22:24:59 +0000Coincidence ID:11292

Somehow positive sign

Lockdown gave me the opportunity to follow a childhood dream. I start painting again doing a serious dedicated to mental health. It’s shows the three steps of depression I went through after my partners suicide it culminates on a fourth painting about him, what aggravated his mental health and it shows on his own words how he was afraid to end the way it did. What motivated me to start painting again was/is to voice my discontent and disgust of how he was ignored.<br /> The coincidence is that six years ago, to this day he was thanking me on Facebook for the support I gave him to find the job he dreamed. Unfortunately, in the end it didn’t work out as it was a zero hours contract. Coincidence or not I see it as a sign of appreciation. So much for my atheism…
Date submitted:Sat, 19 Jun 2021 21:21:14 +0000Coincidence ID:11291

Date submitted:Sat, 19 Jun 2021 18:25:59 +0000Coincidence ID:11290

Micronase: Skinny Cheap

Date submitted:Sat, 19 Jun 2021 18:24:05 +0000Coincidence ID:11289

Card trick

I have no experience in doing tricks, but wanting to be funny at my own expence, I took a pack of cards, shuffled them and handed the pack to a friend. I told her to cut anywhere but don;t let me see. She cut the cards, I told her to look at the exposed face card, and said 'seven of hearts'. It was a shock to her, but more of a shock to me as sure enough there was the seven of hearts. I was asked how I did the trick, but said I couldn't divulge my secret. No secret, just an amazing coincidence
Date submitted:Fri, 18 Jun 2021 18:14:53 +0000Coincidence ID:11284

Mysterious 7's

I'm Branden. I'll keep this short and only post my most memorable synchronicity since I have a lot of them daily with license plates. This event is what led me to learn of them. One morning on my way to work, I stopped at Walgreens to get a drink and a snack. The receipt came out to $7.77. The same day, on my way home from work, I grabbed a meal from Burger King and the receipt came out to$7.77. I believe I still have the receipts somewhere. Things like this are a common occurence for me, but never have I had anything that was as convincing as this.
Date submitted:Fri, 18 Jun 2021 16:20:00 +0000Coincidence ID:11283