Mathematics of Family Planning in Talmud

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Blatt, Simon, Freiberg, Uta, Shikhman, Vladimir
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Blatt, Simon
Freiberg, Uta
Shikhman, Vladimir
author_facet Blatt, Simon
Freiberg, Uta
Shikhman, Vladimir
contents Motivated by the commitments from the Talmud in Judaism, we consider the family planning rules which require a couple to get children till certain numbers of boys and girls are reached. For example, the rabbinical school of Beit Hillel says that one boy and one girl are necessary, whereas Beit Shammai urges for two boys. Surprisingly enough, although the corresponding average family sizes differ in both cases, the gender ratios remain constant. We show more that for any family planning rule the gender ratio is equal to the birth odds. The proof of this result is given by using different mathematical techniques, such as induction principle, Doob's optional-stopping theorem, and brute-force. We conclude that, despite possible asymmetries in the religiously motivated family planning rules, they discriminate neither boys nor girls.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_09387
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mathematics of Family Planning in Talmud
Blatt, Simon
Freiberg, Uta
Shikhman, Vladimir
History and Overview
01A05, 60G42
Motivated by the commitments from the Talmud in Judaism, we consider the family planning rules which require a couple to get children till certain numbers of boys and girls are reached. For example, the rabbinical school of Beit Hillel says that one boy and one girl are necessary, whereas Beit Shammai urges for two boys. Surprisingly enough, although the corresponding average family sizes differ in both cases, the gender ratios remain constant. We show more that for any family planning rule the gender ratio is equal to the birth odds. The proof of this result is given by using different mathematical techniques, such as induction principle, Doob's optional-stopping theorem, and brute-force. We conclude that, despite possible asymmetries in the religiously motivated family planning rules, they discriminate neither boys nor girls.
title Mathematics of Family Planning in Talmud
topic History and Overview
01A05, 60G42
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.09387