The Birthday and Matching Problems
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Abstract
In this chapter, we offer a glimpse into some problems that have earned the status of being classics in counting and combinatorial probability. They have an entertainment value, and they also present some surprises in their solutions and the final answers. The problems we present are generally known as the birthday problem and the matching problem. For greater exposure to the material in this chapter, we recommend Feller, W. (1968), Diaconis and Holmes (2002), Blom et al. (1994), DasGupta (2005), Mckinney (1966), Abramson and Moser (1970), Diaconis and Mosteller (1989), Barbour and Hall(1984), Barbour et al. (1992), Gani (2004), Ivchenko and Medvedev (1997), Johnson and Kotz (1977), and Karlin and McGregor (1965).
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