Maths question

[tonyyeb]

If one in 9 people are left handed what would be the odds of two people meeting who were left handed? How is that worked out?

Cheers

 

[tonyyeb]

It turns out that the chances of two people meeting that are left handed are around 1.2% or ~1 in 100. Still not found an explanation why that is the case mathematically.

 

[tonyyeb]

This might get you on the correct track:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem

The outcome is higher than you would think.

Yes it sounds like a similar question but with the range being much higher making it a lot less likely.

 

[tonyyeb]

Maybe it's

Chance of person 1 is left handed = 1 in 9
Chance of person 2 is left handed = 1 in 9

Chance of person 1 meeting person 2 = 1/9 x 1/9 = 1/81 = 0.0123 = 1.23%

I was thinking along those lines too.