The Two-Child Paradox: Dichotomy and Ambiguity
Peter Lynch · Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin · 2011
Given that one of the children in a two-child family is a boy, what are the chances that the other is also a boy.The intuitive answer is 50 : 50.More careful investigation leads us to a 1-in-3 chance.We investigate circumstances under which these answers are correct.The imposition of further conditions yields some very surprising results.