On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:27:57 -0400, John Hudson wrote:
>I recall from high school statistics that in a randomly selected group of 25
>to 30 people there is a better than 50% chance that at least two people will
>have the same birthday [day and month].
>
True, but the chance that at least two would share a fixed date for
their birthday, e.g. 12 Februay, is _much_ smaller! 1/365th of your
50%, I would guess.
With two dice the chance that you throw two threes is much smaller
than the chance that you throw two equal numbers. 1/6th.
>On that basis, there should be several people on this list who are sharing
>birthdays today with Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin.
>
Perhaps, but not 'on that basis'. For each of us the chance of having
this birthday is 1/365th....To find two such people you would need
several hundred list members, IMHO.
>
>We should take a poll .................. don't be shy out there !
>
>jh
Frank van Lindert, to lazy to do the exact arithmetics...
Utrecht NL.
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