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This is more or less this week we're looking at the

statistically unlikely world of coincidences.

Hello and welcome to more or less the numbers program on the BBC World

Service. Today as you've no doubt noticed we have zero

efforts in the studio. I'm Angela Saini standing in for

Tim while he takes a well-deserved break. It just happens to be a coincidence

that I was available. Or was it, what if I hadn't been available?

Maybe it would have been more of a coincidence if we'd both been on holiday

at the same time. Yes, you've guessed the theme of today's

edition and our journey through the statistically unlikely world of coincidences

begins by looking at chance encounters inspired by this question

Ken. I know a number of people including myself

who've bumped into people they know whilst a long way from both parties

home and with neither party having prior knowledge of their journeys.

These stories are often accompanied with the question, what are the chances of that?

The locations have included Florida, Australia, Vietnam

and a fairly remote New York and Beach. So more or less

what are the chances of that? Ken your friends aren't the only ones

in fact the same thing happened to me once when I was in a cafe in New Delhi.

...