Probability of Shared Birthdays in a Room of People Born in January

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In summary, the probability of at least two people sharing the same birthday in a room of 23 people is 69%. However, this logic does not apply when all 15 people are born in January, as the probability in this case is 50% with a room size of 17 or more people.
  • #1
Tachyon314
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Most people have heard about the birthday problem if 23 people are placed in a room what is the probability that 2 people share the same birthday. Well, we can make 253 pairs and divide it by 364.

253/364= 69%
Anyway, this isn't my question.

This is:

Consider the following, 15 people are placed in a room, all of whom are born in January. What is the probability that 2 people have the same birthday?

However, using the same logic as the previous problem we end up with 105 pairs which is to be divided be 31.

Which isn't true.

Any ideas?
 
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  • #2
253/364 doesn't make sense to me.

The probability that at least two have same date of birth in a room of n people is one minus probability that all have different birth day, that is

p(n) = 1 - 365/365 * 364/365 * ... * (365-(n-1))/365,

which gives p(23) = 0,507

I'm sure you can modify that to fit the "birthday in january paradox". I get that in this case n >= 17 gives pjan(n) >= 0,5.
 
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Related to Probability of Shared Birthdays in a Room of People Born in January

1. What is the "Birthday problem" in probability?

The birthday problem, also known as the birthday paradox, is a mathematical problem that asks how many people are needed in a room for there to be a 50% chance that two people share the same birthday.

2. Why is it called the "Birthday problem"?

The name "Birthday problem" comes from the fact that the question involves determining the probability of two people sharing the same birthday in a group.

3. What is the formula for calculating the probability in the "Birthday problem"?

The formula for calculating the probability in the "Birthday problem" is:

P(n) = 1 - (365!/((365-n)! * 365^n))

Where n is the number of people in the group.

4. How does the number of people in the group affect the probability in the "Birthday problem"?

The more people there are in a group, the higher the probability that two people share the same birthday. This is because as the number of people increases, the number of possible combinations of birthdays increases, making it more likely for two people to share the same one.

5. What is the practical application of the "Birthday problem" in probability?

The "Birthday problem" has practical applications in fields such as cryptography, where it is used to estimate the likelihood of two people having the same password or encryption key. It is also used in social sciences to analyze patterns in people's birth dates and in statistics to understand the concept of probability and its applications.

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