Birthday probability solution

Version 1.0.0.0 (1.52 KB) by samil
Solution to the problem of finding the probability of at least two people having the same birthday
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Updated 31 Jan 2012

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Solution to birthday probability problem: If there are n people in a classroom, what is the probability that at least two of them have the same birthday?
General solution:
P = 1-365!/(365-n)!/365^n
If you try to solve this with large n (e.g. 30, for which the solution is 29%) with the factorial function like so:
P = 1-factorial(365)/factorial(365-30)/365^30
Matlab will output NaN because Matlab tries to compute very large values here.
The approach in this script is to start from n=1 and at each step use the previous step's result to avoid dealing with large numbers.

Cite As

samil (2024). Birthday probability solution (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/34860-birthday-probability-solution), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

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Created with R2007a
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Version Published Release Notes
1.0.0.0