I found one Bicentennial quarter in my left jacket pocket and one Bicentennial quarter in my right jacket pocket.For those of you who don't live in the USA: It's a rare occurence to get a Bicentennial "drummer boy" quarter in your change. To find two in one day, one in each pocket, is just odd!
13 comments:
You surprise me, Stacey.
With your background, I would have thought that you would have tried to calculate the statistical probability of receiving two "drummer boy" coins on the same day. I know that it is not an easy task, and I see that there may be a number of puzzling variables. But still, I'm curious to know the approximate probability.
I've posted a comment on your reading (see further down)
I guess it'd be possible to get a very rough estimate of that based on how many 1976 quarters are judged o be still in circulation versus the total number of quarters in circulation and then factor in having two of them at the same time--and I presume no other quarters, Stacey?
But it'd be a very rough estimate since the numbers it's being derived from are very loose. How's that sound, Stacey? You're the statistician.
An interesting question. I hadn't actually thought of calculating the probability of having two drummer boy coins. My mind has lost its zest.
This will require some research. I will have to find out, like Utenzi said, just how many Centennial quarters are estimated to be in circulation. Then, I will have to find out overall how many quarters are in circulation. There will be permutations involved.
But I did have other quarters in my pockets at the time. I had a handful of change in my left pocket and a handful of change in my right pocket.
But then again, how to calculate putting them in my right and left jacket pocket, which I rarely do. Normally I put change in my change purse. Something must have been different that day that caused me to put them in my jacket. Perhaps I did not have my purse handy. What is the probability of that? Shouldn't that be included in the calculation?
Puzzling variables indeed. :)
Oh yes. Then we must include the probability of the two quarters being split between the two pockets instead of them each going into the same pocket.
Yikes. Where's my math professors when I need them?
Yes, those other quarters will affect the equation, as you surmised, Stacey. As for the not using your change purse--that might just have to be chalked up to chance. Unless you want to monitor your behavior long enough to get an idea how often you dump change directly in your pockets--and don't let your monitoring the situation to influence events. Heisenberg and all that.
*sigh* I never learned about Quantum Theory, either. :( Just plain old math. And even then I've forgotten a lot of it since I haven't used most of it.
Don't forget to concider the infinate number of other equally "strange" coincidences that could have occured.
I am not saying that there is nothing mysterious going on, far from it.
I too am enjoying watching the growing strangness of the universe.
Oops sorry. I meant Bicentennial quarters, not Centennial quarters. I must still be living in the year 1876. :)
I wonder if noticing more and more of these events is a sign of our awakening? What do you think?
OK, well I've figured out how many Bicentennial quarters were made in 1976. There were 1.6 billion of them. Many of those have most certainly been pulled from circulation. But I wonder if there is an estimate anywhere on how many of those might still be around?
"Bicentennial quarters have circulated widely ever since, even though many people systematically set them aside whenever they encounter them."
http://www.jeffersoncoinandbullion.com/article48.shtml
"I wonder if noticing more and more of these events is a sign of our awakening? What do you think?"
Not necessarily.
If you place your awareness on anything then you will start to see more of it and it will seem as though there is more of it than there used to be.
Awakening means being more aware of your existance, right now.
just in case you're curious,
it's funny how certain years show up. ive done some research on the subject and it turns out that on the sample of 960 quarters (about as random as i can do) about 5% are from 1965-1969, 7% or so from the 70's, 18% or so from the 80's, 27.5% from the 90's, and around 41% from 2000 or later.
i never found a single one from before 1965 (probably because in1964 they stopped making quarters from silver and people stopped circulating them) and I never saw one from 1975 ( i have no reason for this, in 76 they made the bicentennial but that doesn't explain anything). Honestly, if you pull a bunch of quarters, I feel pretty safe in saying you'll find about half of them from 2000 or later, a quarter from the nineties, (haha no pun intended), an the rest are pretty random, except that with a good sample you may come across quite a few from 1965-1969. which is surprising based on their age, but it's true, try it.
just in case you're curious,
it's funny how certain years show up. ive done some research on the subject and it turns out that on the sample of 960 quarters (about as random as i can do) about 5% are from 1965-1969, 7% or so from the 70's, 18% or so from the 80's, 27.5% from the 90's, and around 41% from 2000 or later.
i never found a single one from before 1965 (probably because in1964 they stopped making quarters from silver and people stopped circulating them) and I never saw one from 1975 ( i have no reason for this, in 76 they made the bicentennial but that doesn't explain anything). Honestly, if you pull a bunch of quarters, I feel pretty safe in saying you'll find about half of them from 2000 or later, a quarter from the nineties, (haha no pun intended), an the rest are pretty random, except that with a good sample you may come across quite a few from 1965-1969. which is surprising based on their age, but it's true, try it.
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