5.52 Horrible 11 on 9/11 The digits in 9/11 add up to 11 19 + 1 + 12, American Airlines flight 11 was the first to hit the World Trade Towers (which took the form of the number 11), there were 92 people on board 19 + 2 = 112, September 11 is the 254th day of the year 12 + 5 + 4 = 112, and there are 11 letters in Afghanistan, New York City, the Pentagon, and George W. Bush (see article by L. Belkin, New York Times, August 11, 2002). How could you explain to someone who has not studied probability that, because of the way we look for patterns out of the huge number of things that happen, this is not necessarily an amazing coincidence?