oh ok, thanks very much guys! i feel a lot better now :)
i used VERY simple-minded mathematics to convince myself that the random 31's were so unlikely to happen that their probabilities were negligable. but i guess the fact that there are so many of these small fractions to add causes quite a big difference to the end result.
a consequence of your calculation seems to be that if you do get a baby with 31/31/x/x/x/31 (from two similar parents), the chances are reasonably good that one of the 31's was actually random. that's pretty cool :)
by the way, i have a phd in pure maths, but i never did a lot of statistics :) haha!! ok, thanks again guys!
i used VERY simple-minded mathematics to convince myself that the random 31's were so unlikely to happen that their probabilities were negligable. but i guess the fact that there are so many of these small fractions to add causes quite a big difference to the end result.
a consequence of your calculation seems to be that if you do get a baby with 31/31/x/x/x/31 (from two similar parents), the chances are reasonably good that one of the 31's was actually random. that's pretty cool :)
by the way, i have a phd in pure maths, but i never did a lot of statistics :) haha!! ok, thanks again guys!