Question

My wife and I had three girls in a row, Amber, Melissa, and Camila and then we had a boy, Steven (so 3:1 ratio girls to boys). What is the chance that our next child - if we were to have one would be male?

Answer 1

The probability of your next child being male is 50 percent, as each pregnancy has an independent 50:50 chance of being male or female, regardless of the sexes of previous children.

Step-by-step explanation:

The chance that your next child will be male is independent of the genders of your previous children. This is due to the fact that the father's sperm can carry either an X or a Y chromosome, ultimately determining the sex of the baby. Since a mother can only pass on an X chromosome, it is the sperm's chromosome that is the deciding factor. With each pregnancy, there is a 50 percent chance that a child will be male, and equally, a 50 percent chance that a child will be female. Therefore, despite having three girls and one boy currently, the probability of having a male child next remains fixed at 50 percent. This 50:50 probability is true for each conception, regardless of previous children's sexes.

Answer 2

The answer will be 21