BBC News on the Aventis Prize 2003 (the prize is for the best science publication for the year.) This year it went to "Right Hand, Left Hand" by Chris McManus. It sounds like an interesting book, but even if you aren't about to rush off and buy the book, the above page is worth a read.
I subscribe to few (very few) carefully selected newsletters, one of them is Simon Singhs News Letter In the latest issue he talkd of the aventus prize, and he offers a oppertunity to win a book if you can answer this question.
If there are 23 people in a room, then there is a 50/50 chance of a shared birthday, which
seems surprisingly high. The question is this: how many people do you need in the room for a 90% chance of a shared birthday?
If you are interested, here is a site that all but walks you through it: http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_11_23_98.html
I beleve the answer is 33 people. ie. 1 -(365/365*364/365....332/365) = 0.2047
Well thats about it for now,
Untill next time,
James
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