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Birthday Problem & Class Phenotypic Probabilities

Author(s): 
John Jungck, Annelise Myers, Jennifer Spangenberg

From the Biological ESTEEM collection

ESTEEM Category

Genetics

Description

This workbook as two related applications, the Birthday Problem and Class Phenotypic Probabilities. The Birthday Problem calculates the probability that two people in a given number will have the same birthday. The user will enter their class number into the worksheet and the program will output a probability, graphically. Class Phenotypic Probabilities determines the allelic frequency of a population for 6 characteristics (blood type, RH positive/negative, sex, mid-digital hair positive/negative, earlobes attached/unattached and PTC taste receptor). The user can enter their phenotype for each characteristic and the program will calculate the probability of that particular combination and the probability of other people having the same combination.

Go to the Birthday Problem module in a new window

Popular Text Citations

Feller, W. (1968) An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. 1, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley, pp. 31-32.

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Ball, W. W. R. and Coxeter, H. S. M. (1987) Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 13th ed. New York: Dover, pp. 45-46.

Research Articles

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Sayrafiezadeh, M. (1994) "The Birthday Problem Revisited." Mathematics Magazine 67: 220-223.

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Hocking, R. L. and Schwertman, N. C. (1986) "An Extension of the Birthday Problem to Exactly k Matches." College Mathematics Journal 17: 315-321.

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Education Research & Pedagogical Materials

Lesser, L.M. (1999). Exploring the birthday problem with spreadsheets, The Mathematics Teacher (92), No. 5 pp. 407-411.

Stultz, Lowell. 2000. Probabilities and Statistics on the Spreadsheet. In 'How to Excel in Finite Math'. Pearson Custom Publishing, Boston, Pages 104-113.

Tutorial & Background Materials

Eric W. Weisstein. "Birthday Problem." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.

Ivars Peterson. "MathTrek: Birthday Surprises." Nov. 21, 1998.

Bogomolny, A. "Coincidence"

The Birthday Problem, University of Virginia

George Reese. The Birthday Problem: A short lesson in probability. Applet by Nicholas Exner and Michael McKelvey

John Jungck, Annelise Myers, Jennifer Spangenberg, "Birthday Problem & Class Phenotypic Probabilities," Convergence (November 2005)