Showing posts with label probability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label probability. Show all posts

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Two snowflakes alike is possible...

…but how probable is it that any one person will see two snowflakes alike.

A snowflake consists of a finite number of molecules in a finite number of fractal hexagons.  A finite number times a finite number is still a finite number.  Maybe somebody has worked out just how large this number is.  Writing this at our cabin with a seemingly infinitely slow interconnection, I don't want to check it.

If we assume that there are a finite number of snowflakes, the next question is what is the probability that they will fall where one individual will see them together.  Or have photographed a large number and found two alike.

My guess is that if a person sees a snowflake today in Minnesota, maybe somebody in the Andes saw an identical snowflake over a hundred years ago.

In advertising parlance, the possibilities are endless:)