Radio and CD Player in sync

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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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Last week I was driving along listening to Classic FM radio and a couple of minutes into one piece of music (it was Borodin), I decided it didn't match my mood so I switched to my 6 disc cd player in which I have kept the same fairly diverse discs for months if not years. To my complete bafflement, it seemed I had failed somehow to switch, so I switched back to the radio - and then I realised that my CD player had picked up on exactly the same track, and merely a "cat's whisker" behind! At a guess there are an average of 15 tracks on each cd - so I spent the rest of the journey pondering on the probability of that ever happening again in my lifetime (I am 65 and drive extensively, ergo listen to the radio/cds). Incidently, a friend suggested that my boredom threshold must also reach the same point on the same track each time! This has been on my mind ever since - so is it a coincidence that coincidences came up on Radio 4 so soon afterwards?!!
Total votes: 403
Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:51:07 +0000Coincidence ID:3744