Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Our science teacher is concerned that the birthday paradox experiment on the website is more of a survey, and it needs a larger sample than 23 persons in a group.

She is concerned this birthday paradox cannot use the scientific method to test the topic...she asked how?

Can you help us answer the scientific method protion and minimize or eliminate her concerns?

I'm sorry to say, but I agree with your teacher. The birthday paradox is an interesting thing to study if you like mathematics and probability, but it doesn't make a great science project. Especially if you are required to use the scientific method. There's no real experimentation involved where you are changing an independent variable to see how the dependent variable will be affected. If it's not too late, I would suggest picking a different topic. (Sorry!)