Each of us has two parents [well apart from Immaculate Conceptions of which only one is historically recorded]
and each of us has four grandparents for the same reason.
So for each generation we go back we double the number of ancestors at that generation?
GEN1(1944) 1: me, you, anybody
GEN2(1909) 2. parents
GEN3(1876) 4. grandparents
GEN4(1842) 8. great-grandparents
GEN5(1813) 16. great-great-
GEN6 32.
GEN7 64.
GEN8 128.
See where this is going?
GEN16. 32,728
My ancestors trace back 30 generations in Ireland and we can track about 5 more back through Wales, England to Normandy around the time of the Norman Invasion of England in 1066.
GEN32. is actually 2 to the power of 31 ancestors
which considerably more than the whole population (at that time) of the British Isles and France.
Have I that many ancestors?
Has biology failed me?
Or Maths?
Or logic?
2006-11-05
20:29:39
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3 answers
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asked by
SouthOckendon
5