Same place, same time

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.

Last weekend I was walking my dogs down a long narrow lane near my home. A couple walking their dog approached in the opposite direction, and as we came closer a cyclist appeared behind them. We all met at exactly the same place in the long narrow lane in a melee of people and dogs! I experience this quite often whilst driving. Why is it that I always seem to meet a bus or lorry at the narrowest part of the road? Why does there seem to be a cyclist on every blind bend just as I arrive? I have long been a believer in Sod's Law but it's more likely to be the result of my selective memory!
Total votes: 586
Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:52:43 +0000Coincidence ID:3573