Fab Femmes

What do the following 10 Canadian women have in common?

EMILY CARR
DORIS McCARTHY
LIONA BOYD
BARBARA ANN SCOTT
MAUREEN McTEER
SHEILA COPPS
NANCY GREENE
NELLIE McCLUNG
CATRIONA LEMAY DOAN
KIM CAMPBELL

a. All have published their memoirs
b. All have been awarded honorary degrees
c. All have spoken at a women's rights rally
d. All have sold their paintings

*See bottom for answers

LIKELIHOOD

As Luck Would Have It
By Jeffrey S. Rosenthal

Rank the following events, from most probable to least probable:

a.Your choice of seven numbers will win the Super 7 lottery jackpot
b. The next time you drive across town you will die in a traffic accident
c. The first five cards of your next poker hand will be a royal flush
d. If you select a Canadian at random, you will choose a future prime minister

*See bottom for answers

Jeffrey Rosenthal is a professor in the department of statistics at the University of Toronto. His book, Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities, will be published this year by HarperCollins Canada.

Quatrain Winners!

In our April issue, we invited readers to write a Quatrain poem. We received many terrific entries, and award-winning poet Christian Bök took on the difficult task of selecting three winners. Click here for the winners and the runners up!

Answers

Denominator

a)

Likelihood

c. One chance in 649,740;
d. About one chance in four million;
b. About one chance in seven million;
a. About one chance in 63 million