Coincidence

A coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. The perception of remarkable coincidences may lead to supernatural, occult, or paranormal claims, or it may lead to belief in fatalism, which is a doctrine that events will happen in the exact manner of a predetermined plan. In general, the perception of coincidence, for lack of more sophisticated explanations, can serve as a link to folk psychology and philosophy.

"Coincide" redirects here. For the album by Dewey Redman, see Coincide (album).
For other uses, see Coincidence (disambiguation).

From a statistical perspective, coincidences are inevitable and often less remarkable than they may appear intuitively. Usually, coincidences are chance events with underestimated probability. An example is the birthday problem, which shows that the probability of two persons having the same birthday already exceeds 50% in a group of only 23 persons.

A recent trio of "coindidences" involving the South African Springboks caused some astonishment after the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Wayne Barnes from England was chosen to referee the final between New Zealand and South Africa in his 111th and last test match. In a "strange recurrence" of the numbers sequence 1-1-1 the South African Springboks won their last three matches (the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final) by one point each. And what is more, if all the points are added scored against and by the South African team in those three matches, 28+29+15+16+11+12, then the total is found to be 111.

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