Re: [math-fun] math-fun Digest, Vol 89, Issue 6

Re: [math-fun] Probability puzzle Veit Elser <ve10@cornell.edu> wrote:

I'll try channeling von Neumann on this one:

B = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ... = 1

G = 0/2 + 1/4 + 2/8 + 3/16 + ... = 1

=> B = G

There is an even simpler solution: Totally ignoring the identities of the mothers of any of the children, each child has a 50% chance of being a boy. How many children any particular family has is totally irrelevant to the gender of any particular child, and hence the probability of any specific gender. -- Mark D. Niemiec <mniemiec@gmail.com>