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A man has two children. One of them is a boy.



Diablo

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 22, 2014
4,205
lewes
"A man has two children. One of them is a boy".
What is the probability that the other one is a boy?

If the statement is true the answer is no probability of the other child being a boy otherwise the statement is false
 




nwgull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
13,828
Manchester
To be honest, the first question is still 1 in 2. The only way it could be 1 in 3 is if the person posing the question deliberately looked for a man with a boy, and even then it depends on how the man was selected. And that's not a reasonable assumption from the question.

The only fair assumption it's possible to make is that the man was chosen randomly and that we were randomly chosen the gender of one of his children. And it's 1 in 2.
It is, without doubt, 1 in 2.

The mathematical model showing 1 in 3 is wrong in that it ignores the fact that 2 of the potential 4 scenarios - GG, BG, GB and BB - are discounted by the fact that a man with a boy can't have 2 girls and he has to have had either the boy first or the boy second - he can't have both.
 




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