Families are made up of people who over time form generations. If each of us looks back, we will see our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. We also have the opportunity to participate in the emergence of new generations. Among humans, the calculation of descendants cannot be performed exactly, as there is no way to predict the number of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren a couple will have.
In the animal kingdom, this calculation of descendants can be performed more efficiently by determining the number of animals for future generations.
Purple-breasted parrot: an animal at risk of extinction
The purple-breasted parrot is an endangered bird that lives in the Atlantic Forest. This bird makes the nest to raise the chicks in the same tree, so if this is cut down, the pair of parrots will no longer breed. The female can lay up to 4 eggs in the same nest. Assuming that this female lays only two eggs and that birds of the next generations also lay only two eggs, let's calculate the number of birds for future generations, assuming that no factor will interrupt this sequence.
tree of descendants
Couple
1st generation
2nd generation
3rd generation
The sequence of birds per generation will be:
1st generation: 2 birds
2nd generation: 4 birds
3rd generation: 8 birds
4th generation: 16 birds
5th generation: 32 birds
6th generation: 64 birds
7th generation: 128 birds
8th generation: 256 birds
And so on.
by Mark Noah
Mathematical
Kids School Team
