Question

According to Bill Nye, How many people need to be in a room for there to be 50% chance of atleast 2 people having the same birthday?a. 128 b. 56 c. 29 d. 12

Answer 1

the answer is actually 23 people

Explanation:

Bill Nye's birthday paradox can be explained in the following manner:

first we must find the probability that in a room with 23 people, no two people have the same birthday

probability of no two people having the same birthday = 365/365 x 364/365 x 363/365 x 362/365 ... you keep multiplying until 343/365 = 0.492703

so the probability that in a room with 23 people, no two people have the same birthday = 49.2703%

the probability of two people having the same birthday = 1 - probability of no two people having the same birthday = 1 - 49.2703% = 50.7297%