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Many people really want either a son or a daughter. So they'll keep trying until it works. An acquaintance of mine had four sons before the fifth one finally wa
by jakobegger 10y ago
Many people really want either a son or a daughter. So they'll keep trying until it works. An acquaintance of mine had four sons before the fifth one finally was a daughter.
I'm pretty sure that effect is a lot stronger than any genetic predispositions.
- tracker1 10y agoMy mom was one of four daughters (no sons), their mom was one of three daughters (no sons), two of my cousins only have girls, and my sister only has girls... my brother is the only one of myself and cousins that have any sons.
- squidfood 10y agoActually, if everyone has babies of sex A until you have a baby of sex B, you get a 50/50 mix. - Half the parents will have an only child of sex B. - One quarter will have one A, one B. - One eighth will have A, A, B. - One sixteenth A,A,A,B. This converges on 50/50!
- xadhominemx 10y agoWell if you assume some sort of practical limit to the number of children a couple can have, then you end up with more B.
- squidfood 10y agoActually, no. If you have a hard limit, then some people will end up A,A, ... A with no B. That evens it up again.
- xadhominemx 10y agoTrue
- gweinberg 10y agoThat's true, but it doesn't imply boys and girls have the same number of brothers. As a commenter in the op pointed out, if families keep having children until they have a son, no boys have any brothers and all girls have exactly one brother. I think if they keep having kids until they have a girl, though, for gors and boys you have a .5 chance no brother, .25 1 brother, and so on.
- boojumsnark 10y agoIf you kept flipping coins until you got heads - would you then beat the casino on average?