Where is that article on probability and birthdays?

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Some months ago I read an interesing article linked to in the Daily Insider about a mathematician who posed interesting questions on probability. I think one problem was about the probability of a child being male given that he/she was born on a Tuesday and had a sister. Or something like that. The answer was not intuitive was influenced by information about being born on a Tuesday.

So who remembers that article? And more importantly, where is it?

Posted 5-Jan-11 3:22am

TonyRM

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Jan-11 13:14pm

Tony, please, if you find out yourself, post the reference here. (I don't think I remember this one.)

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wizardzz · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-05T04:57:00

Solution 2

I don't know where the CP article is, but here's a great article. I think it was originally in a newsletter article regarding a meetup and memorial for one of the fathers of probability.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60598/title/Math_Trek__When_intuition_and_math_probably_look_wrong[^]

Posted 5-Jan-11 4:57am

wizardzz

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TonyRM 5-Jan-11 12:35pm

That's the article! Thanks very much. I only vaguely remembered the probability question and wasn't sure if it was motivated by the passing away of the "father" (which I should have mentioned). I've been looking unsuccessfully for that article for quite a while, so thanks very much!

wizardzz 5-Jan-11 12:39pm

I had this article bookmarked, as the solution is pretty clear in it. The problem sparked numerous debates at my old company when we started poring over interview questions, brain teasers, etc. I fancy myself a statistics geek, so I loved seeing the ongoing struggle with this one.

Manfred Rudolf Bihy 5-Jan-11 12:43pm

Good call! 5+

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Jan-11 13:13pm

@wizardzz: I'm quite familiar with the topic; this is one more interesting article.
Thank a lot, my 5.
(No I don't remember the article Tony are looking for.)