[Edit 14.8.25: This has caused some confusion. To clarify, I’m looking for the chance of ANY 10-digit sequence being selected first, using all the digits 0-9. The sequence can start with a zero, there’s a 10% chance that it will.]

35-40 years ago I lived with my then young family in the beautiful Thameside town of Marlow, Bucks. Happy days.

Our phone number was 0628 473951, which uses all the digits 0-9 once. I’ve often wondered since, what are the chances of such a thing happening? I invite you to suggest the likelihood of that being a 10-digit number, based on (a) no weighting in relation to the design of UK phone numbers, and (b) the first random selection from a vast and equal number of all the digits 0-9 e.g. 0.5 is a 50% likelihood. I hope and expect that a mathematician / physicist in the Cotswolds – a part of which is sealed off currently for JD Vance‘s visit – will provide the authoritative answer.

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