The Birthday Problem

Why are so few random people needed for a likely chance of a shared birthday?

Anthony B. Masters

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The birthday problem is: how large does a group need to be before it is more likely than not that two share a birthday?

Intuition may offer 183 people as an answer, since that is 365 divided by two rounded up. The answer is 23 or fewer.

(GIF: Tenor)

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Anthony B. Masters

This blog looks at the use of statistics in Britain and beyond. It is written by RSS Statistical Ambassador and Chartered Statistician @anthonybmasters.