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4 items are filed under this topic.
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Probability and birthdays |
2009-01-22 |
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From La:
Neglecting the effect of leap years, what is the chance that, of 6 people selected at random, 2 will have the same birthday?
Answered by Penny Nom. |
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Unusual occurances |
2004-01-08 |
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From Martin:
My wife and I have a question about the probability of something that happened to us a few years ago. So far, no one has been able to give me even an approximate answer. On my 32nd birthday, my wife and I went out to eat at local Japanese hibachi style restaurant. At the restaurant, couples/families are sat together around the hibachi where the cook performs a show. There was a fifteen minute or so wait, so my wife and I sat in the lounge waiting for our name to be called. When they called our names for the reservation, this is what happened. The first group called was the Martin family. Then they called the Francis family. We were the next family to be called, the Ashton family. My full name is Martin Francis Ashton! I think the odds of that happening to someone are very unlikely, but it did, and there is more. Next, we were all sat at the same table in that order, "Martin" family, "Francis" family, then us, the "Ashton" family. Again, it formed my full name!
Answered by Penny Nom. |
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The birthday problem |
1999-04-19 |
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From Gordon Cooke:
How do I explain the rapid rise in the probability that at least two people in a group of n have the same birthday. We have derived the formula for p(n) and have graphed it and have seen how the results are counter-intuitive. At around n=23 p(n)=.5 and at n=50 p(n) is very close to 1. It does not help to simplify the problem (eg use months instead of days) because then our intuition does correspond more closely to reality. Is there some way we can see how the probabiltiy of a "collision" increases with n? It makes me think of data storage problems and hash tables in computer science.
Answered by Harley Weston. |
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The Birthday Problem |
1998-06-12 |
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From Josh Skolnick:
if you are at a party what is the least amount of people that have to be there to have at least a 50% chance of having 2 people with the same birthday? and how do you get the answer thank you in advance josh
Answered by Harley Weston. |
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