A matter of time and place

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.

I bought, here in the UK, a mechanical toy car, a present for my son. As a family we then traveled 500 miles to the East of France to visit relatives. The toy car was a great success but it was quickly realised that it needed some adjustments and for this a minute Allen Key would be needed (about 1mm). With just a couple of hours to closing time, prior to a holiday period, an journey to the not too local shopping complex was made. Time was pressing but the time we reached the shopping area and parked in one of those vast brick paved parking areas. The shops we visited could not help and finally we had to return to the car - a 100 or so meters across a now almost deserted car park. Something caught my eye, there resting in the small depression formed by the beveled edges of the interlocking prick paving - an Allen Key. What an extraordinary chance but was it the right size YES What are the chances of that ever happening again ? CM
Total votes: 385
Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:15:24 +0000Coincidence ID:3655