Tim: loath to spoil your mind-blown moment, but the mathematics of birthday-matching probabilities are well-known. For example, given any random sample of 23 HomSaps, there’s a better than 50% chance that two will share the same birthday. Likewise, given the millions born on April 22, there’s a high ‘prior’ probability that ‘matching’ groups can be extracted.
In other words, our surprise should peak in the absence of MORE birthday ‘coincidences!’
I often wonder if VN ever checked the birthdays of the 22 players and 3 officials assembled when he was goal-keeping for his Cambridge college?
One can allow for some ‘gee whiz fatidic fun,’ but any stumbling into astrology must be resisted,
Stan Kelly-Bootle, MA (Cantab), MAA, AMS.
On 23/04/2013 00:00, "Tim Henderson" <tim.hendo@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
OK, it's blowing my mind a little that two of my favorite writers, both known for wordplay, prickly personae and anti-totalitarianism, were both born April 22 --
http://www.andina.com.pe/Espanol/noticia-escritor-guillermo-cabrera-infante-nacio-un-dia-como-hoy-455835.aspx