@zenvelo is that correct? it took two people to have you, four people to have your parents, eight people to have your grandparents, etc.. That would be 14 people just to get back to your great-grandparents.
@Zaku not so. People “had to” have sex and successfully conceive in order for you to be here and your ancestors to have been there. Some of your ancestors had children when they were “approximately” 20 years old while some waited until they were in their 30’s before they had offspring. For the purpose of the question I had to select a point somewhere in the middle. Also, your age does not enter into it unless you want to use your birth as the starting point and work backwards.
@ZEPHYRA Correct, nobody asked them to but they did anyway, how many?
@Setanta 25 years may be high, I think it may be, but I know from looking into my own background all through the early 1900’s and beginning back to 1765 many of my ancestors were in their mid-twenties before they began having children. They were, for the most part, farmers, farm hands, publicans and the like living in small rural villages in England and Ireland. Yes, there were exceptions, earlier births, later births but for the most part it was mid 20’s. In this instance we are looking at a time frame that encompasses the industrial revolution. Even my wife and I were 27 before we had kids. Another thing to consider is that while a couple may start having children at an early age, they have about a 10 – 15 year breeding age span. Finally, not all of a generation survived so I don’t believe a 25 year average is that unreasonable.
In a hundred years the difference between a 15 year and 25 year average generational span is the about 2.5 generation so yes, it makes a difference, a big difference; 80+ generations vs 135+ generations in the time frame I am asking about. This is why I picked a average and asked for an answer for that number.
@elbanditoroso yes your ancestors had sex without resulting pregnancy but these times a don’t matter since they did not directly relate to your existence. And, if we get down to it, there are those that did conceive whose offspring did not live to reproduce themselves but again, these people are irrelevant to your existence.
@Espiritus_Corvus I have usually assumed 18 years myself. So what is the number of people based on 20 years and what is the difference in the number of people having sex that resulted in conception between the 81 generations based on 25 years and 98 generations at 20 years?