Fog Creek Software Discussion Board  boys and girls -- simpler
solution  The proportion of boys to girls is 1:1.  When a child
is conceived it has a 50/50 chance of being a boy or a girl
regardless of the parents' wishes.  There's no feedback loop to
change this in any way.  Think of it as though parents got their
babies from a machine in the hospital.  The machine pumps out
babies of random sex, evenly-distributed between boys and
girls.  The parents can go to the hospital as many times as it
takes to get the baby they want, but each time they have to
accept whatever comes down the chute.  In the end, every family
has a boy (plus zero or more girls), and the machine has
produced an equal number of boys and girls.  Bill Hees Sunday,
November 23, 2003  *  Recent Topics  *  Fog Creek Home