The birthday paradox (2024)

It's the Ri's 224th birthday, and we want to throw a big bash to celebrate. But if we invite a group of people to our party, how likely is it that some of them will share the same birthday?

The birthday paradox is a mathematical phenomenon that demonstrates the surprising probability of two people in a group having the same birthday. Despite the seemingly low odds, in a group of just 23 people, there is a greater than 50% chance of at least two people sharing a birthday. This probability increases rapidly with each additional person added to the group. Explore this fascinating mathematical concept and see it in action with our video.

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The birthday paradox (2024)

FAQs

The birthday paradox? ›

The birthday paradox, also known as the birthday problem, states that in a random group

random group
In mathematics, random groups are certain groups obtained by a probabilistic construction. They were introduced by Misha Gromov to answer questions such as "What does a typical group look like?"
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Random_group
of 23 people, there is about a 50 percent chance that two people have the same birthday.

What is the 99% birthday problem? ›

The answer in probability is quite surprising: in a group of at least 23 randomly chosen people, the probability that some pair of them having the same birthday is more than 50%. For 57 or more people, the probability reaches more than 99%. And of course, the probability reaches 100% if there are 367 or more people.

Can 23 people in a room have the same birthday? ›

It's not a birthday “paradox”, it is simply how the mathematics works, but you got ONE detail wrong with the “birthday probability”. If there are 23 people in the room, the probability is approximately 50% that two people in the room have the same birthday, but you are not necessarily going to be one of them.

What is the birthday wish paradox? ›

In a room of just 23 people there's a 50-50 chance of at least two people having the same birthday. In a room of 75 there's a 99.9% chance of at least two people matching. Put down the calculator and pitchfork, I don't speak heresy. The birthday paradox is strange, counter-intuitive, and completely true.

Does the birthday paradox work in real life? ›

Any unevenness increases the likelihood of two people sharing a birthday. However real-world birthdays are not sufficiently uneven to make much change: the real-world group size necessary to have a greater than 50% chance of a shared birthday is 23, as in the theoretical uniform distribution.

What is the rarest birthday to have? ›

What are the rarest birthdays?
  • February 29th: February 29th (Leap Day during Leap Year) is the rarest birthday with only a one in roughly 1,460 chance of being born on this date. ...
  • The second rarest birthday is Christmas Eve, December 24th.
  • Other uncommon birthdays include January 1st, December 25th, and January 2nd.
Feb 13, 2024

What is the most common month to be born in? ›

July through October tends to be the most popular birth months in the United States. August is, overall, the most popular month for birthdays, which makes sense. A late August birthday means December conception.

Can anyone have 2 birthdays? ›

Today, some Chinese people may celebrate to two birthdays. This is because China uses two calendric systems – i.e. the common calendar used in much of the world (the Gregorian calendar) and the traditional Chinese calendar (the Lunar calendar, which records time according to astronomical phenomenon).

How many people same birthday 50%? ›

You can test it and see mathematical probability in action! The birthday paradox, also known as the birthday problem, states that in a random group of 23 people, there is about a 50 percent chance that two people have the same birthday.

What is your birthday star? ›

Your “birthday star” is any star whose light left it around the time you were born. The starlight you see is as old as you are. Some stars listed below are too dim to see without a telescope.

What is it called when your birthday is on the same day you were born? ›

What is a Beddian Birthday? Simply put, they're a once-in-a-lifetime event, which is why we've put together some tips on how to celebrate a Beddian Birthday in style. Beddian Birthdays are a great time to bring out an Ice Cream Cake, but as you'll soon learn, they don't come around very often.

What is the birthday paradox for dummies? ›

For a group of two people, for example, the chance that one person will share a birthday with the other is 364 out of 365 days. This is a probability of about 0.27 percent. Add a third person to the group, and the chance of sharing a birthday shifts to 363 out of 365 days, which is a probability of about 0.82 percent.

What is the birthday paradox brilliant? ›

The birthday problem (also called the birthday paradox) deals with the probability that in a set of n randomly selected people, at least two people share the same birthday. Though it is not technically a paradox, it is often referred to as such because the probability is counter-intuitively high.

What is the proof of the birthday paradox? ›

If there were 23 names and 365 boxes (one for each day of the year), then most of the boxes would be empty. In reality, there is a 50:50 chance that two people will share a birthday in a group.

Who was born on February 3rd? ›

3. Here are some of the notable people celebrating birthdays today, including Amal Clooney, Blythe Danner, Daddy Yankee, Isla Fisher, Maura Tierney, Morgan Fairchild, Nathan Lane and more.

How to solve the birthday paradox? ›

The probability that no one out of n people has a birthday on a given day is (1 − 1/365)n. For n = 252, this is just over 1/2. And for n = 253, it is just under 1/2. Therefore, you need to come across 253 other people in order to expect that at least one of them has your birthday.

What is the birthday paradox problem? ›

The birthday paradox, also known as the birthday problem, states that in a random group of 23 people, there is about a 50 percent chance that two people have the same birthday. Is this really true? There are multiple reasons why this seems like a paradox.

What is the crazy birthday statistic? ›

If there are 23 people in the same room, there is a 50/50 chance that two people have the same birthday. Sounds a bit surprising, but it's mathematically true! In a room with a certain number of randomly chosen people, a pair of them will probably be born on the same day.

What is the strong birthday problem? ›

The strong birthday problem asks, what is the probability that each one in a group of n individuals is a member of some similar pair. Another way to ask the same question is what is the probability that everyone in a group of n individuals has a birthday shared by someone else in the group.

Do soulmates have the same birthday? ›

Despite the appeal of finding someone born on the exact same day, the idea that all soulmates or twin flames share a birthday is myth, not fact. Plenty of fulfilling relationships happen between people with different birthdays. And many same-birthday couples don't necessarily have that “cosmic” connection.

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