The Gas Cap

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.

After graduating college, I took a long road trip with my best friend (very long - the Alaskan Highway). We took his car, and traded turns buying gas. At one gas station somewhere in a remote stretch of British Columbia or the Yukon Territory, it was his turn to buy gas, and he discovered upon opening the tank door that the gas cap was missing. There was only one real explanation and it was clear who to blame. We hadn't stopped since our last refueling a few hundred miles before, so I must have failed to replace the gas cap on his car at the last station. I felt sheepish, and he somewhat grumpily said, "I guess I'll go see if they sell them in the station." At which point I said, clearly relieved, "why don't we try that one right there?" There was a gas cap sitting on fuel pump behind him! It definitely was not the same gas cap (it was metal, the old one was plastic), but it fit. Something about the setting -- the remoteness, the weariness following thousands of miles on the road -- made this little coincidence seem extra mystical.
Total votes: 738
Date submitted:Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:07:48 +0000Coincidence ID:8409