Not Possible Trivia Quiz

Answer: Certain

Barring some catastrophic change to the workings of our solar system and the earth's rotation, the sun will always rise in the eastern half of the sky. If you look carefully, you will note that the actual point is somewhere between southeast and northeast, with the exact position depending on your location and the date.

Answer: Possible (but not likely)

Since the probability of getting a head on each coin is 0.5, and assuming the three coins do not affect each other's results, the probability of getting three heads would be 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5, or 0.125. This can also be stated as one chance in eight, or a 12.5% probability.

As the probability is much less than 50% (which represents equal chances that it will or will not occur), this result is possible, but not likely.

Answer: Certain

Since the minimum value for each die is one, the minimum total is two. The total for any roll of the dice will always be between two and twelve. If you are in Jail, you may or may not be able to move. If you are not in Jail, you will always move at least two spaces. What happens after the first roll is unpredictable - rolling doubles, drawing a Chance or Community Chest card, or landing on Go To Jail all mean that your move may or may not end up being a total of spaces between two and twelve.

Answer: Not possible

Since purple is not one of the colors on the spinner, it is impossible to spin it. The rules of play vary according to the number of players (and, to some extent, between regions), but the overall aim is always to manage to contort yourself so as to move the nominated body part to one of the circles of the designated color without losing your balance and falling over. I always felt that my brother tickling me in the middle of the game was cheating, but he insisted that the rules don't say anywhere that you cannot tickle your opponent.

Answer: Probable

Any of the eight pawns can be moved on the first move. The only other piece that can be the first one moved is the knight, of which there are two. This means that eight of the ten pieces that can move are pawns, so it is more likely than not that it will be a pawn that is moved to open the game.

Answer: Possible (but not likely)

Although the Ace does not have a face, it is still considered an honor card in bridge, and our rule means that your hand of thirteen cards has to have 13 of the 36 non-face cards left after ignoring the Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit. The calculation for this is 36C13 / 52C13, which produces some very large numbers on the way to a probability of approximately 0.0036, or less than 1%. This is quite unlikely. In a long session, the odds increase because there are many hands, but before you would be likely to call it probable, the probability needs to be close to 75%, which requires over 200 hands. Of course, it might happen on the first deal!

In bridge, a hand with no card over a nine is called a Yarborough, after the second Earl of Yarborough, who famously offered a bet of 1,000 to 1 against such a hand being dealt. Since the actual odds are 1827 to 1, he was on a good thing.

Answer: Probable

Melbourne's December highest temperature is usually between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, but hotter and colder days do occur. Philadelphia's average December temperature is 35.8 degrees Fahrenheit, around 2 degrees Celsius. While nothing related to weather is certain (an unseasonable cold snap could see us leaving in a wintry temperature around 5C, and a warm spell on the US northeast could produce a day closer to 10C), it is quite probable that we will find it colder on arrival than when we started. (My calculations from statistical records show a probability over 99%, so I'm going to carry a warm coat.)

Answer: Possible (but unlikely)

On the first play, the probability of a war is one in 51, or 1.96%. This is the same as the probability of drawing two random cards from the deck and getting the same value for each. At the start of the game, the two players have an equal probability of turning over the higher card, about 49% each.

As the game proceeds, however, the probabilities shift. A player who is on a winning streak will accumulate more high cards than one who is losing, and be increasingly likely to win again. This can all change if powerful cards are lost during a war - your 3 might beat my 2, and capture a couple of kings in the process.

Answer: Not possible

As omega is the 24th (and last) letter of the Greek alphabet, you are not going to find one in an English language Scrabble game. Nor will you find any numbers. There are 100 tiles (unless your dog ate one) including 12 with E, 1 with Q and two blanks that have no point value, but can be used strategically as a letter that is announced as the tile is played.

Answer: Probable

The exact numbers involved in the calculations for this probability depend on whether or not you include February 29, but the general picture doesn't change. For a full mathematical explanation, you can search for 'Birthday Problem' on the internet, as the symbols needed are cumbersome to enter here.

If you have 23 people in the room, then there is better than a 50% chance that at least two of them will share a birthday. For 30 people, the probability is over 70%, which is better than two out of three. Of course, if you have 367 people, there must be two with the same birthday, since there are only 366 possible days including February 29.