The Life of Liz.

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May 6, 2009 · 3 Comments

From: Liz
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 3:15 PM
To: Stephen
Subject: statistics question

hi dad!

i just took the gallup strengths/finder test.

what are the probabilities of someone having 34 strengths in the same order?

apparently the odds are that only 1 in 33 million people will have your top 5 strengths (out of 34 possible) in the same order as you.

love,

eliz

From: Stephen
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 5:19 PM
To: Liz
Subject: re: statistics question

Hey – That maybe a tough question…

My first guess is the number of specific combinations of 34 elements selected in any specific order is: 34! (34 factorial), so the probability of selecting exactly that one is 1/34! or about 1 in every 2.95 x 10e+38.

Using this same method (Combinatorial probability), the probability of selecting exactly the same first 5 numbers is: 1/34 x 1/33 x 1/32 x 1/31 x 1/30 = 1 out of every 33,390,720, which matches what you said below.

The Math Dad.

Categories: Existential Musing.

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