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Imagine a population of 2 women, one who has 2 children and one who has 100. Average is 51. Next generation 2 women have 1 child each and 100 women have 99 each
by daxfohl 4y ago
Imagine a population of 2 women, one who has 2 children and one who has 100. Average is 51. Next generation 2 women have 1 child each and 100 women have 99 each, so the average is about 98. Eventually it will go down to zero, but initially it goes up.
- alcover 4y agoYou're supposing they bear females only ?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- underwater 4y agoAnother way to look at it is to focus on the children. 99 children have a mother who had lots of children, and 2 children whose mother didn't. Basically, if you pick a child at random, they're more likely to come from a family with a lot of children. A similar paradox is the friendship paradox. On average, your friends have more friends than you do.