Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash
My birthday falls on Easter Sunday this year (April 17th, 2022).
Since I was born on Easter Sunday 62 years ago, I wanted to know. Will I get lucky yet again? If April 17th also happens to be your birthday, you might be curious to know if the pattern will repeat itself?
Down below is an easy way to figure it out.
"But, then you might ask, "what if I was born between March 22 and April 25?"
That's a good question since your birthday falls in the 35-day range for ALL possible dates upon which Easter Sunday could fall.
To see the results if your birthday happens to fall between March 22 and April 25, just click on the link to the following distribution table. In my case, the chance of Easter Sunday falling on April 17th each year works out to be 3.383%. This was calculated based on a long, long, long period of time (5.7 million years to be exact). No, I didn’t figure that out by myself. There are statisticians out there who do that sort of thing.
It’s interesting to see the dates all laid out in such a simple way and the projections go forward another 1000 years into the future, can you believe it?
So, "Will my birthday ever fall on Easter Sunday again?"
And the answer is, "Yes, it will," but this time I won't have to wait another 62 years for it to happen.
According to the above distribution table, my birthday will fall on Easter Sunday in 2033 when I’m 73 and in 2044 when I’m 84... provided I live that long. After that, my birthday won’t fall on Easter Sunday again for 57 more years (in 2101 when I turn 141). Sorry folks, but I ain’t gonna be around for that one. Apparently, four times is my limit.
And I'll take it.
Now you ask, "Does this mean everyone else gets four chances like you did?"
Sorry, it seems that not all 35 days were created equal.
According to the website, "Statistics by Jim," some of the dates between March 22 and April 25 are common and some are rare. It's clear Jim likes his stats. You can look at Jim's graph or at the earlier distribution table to see if your birthday is common or not. Apparently, over the long, long run, April 19 is the most common date, and March 22 and April 25 are the rarest.
I guess we can't all be at the top of the distribution curve.
If you ever said statistics were boring, you never met someone like Jim.
Oh, and if your birthday is on Easter Sunday this year, have a great day!