Question

The Jones family has eight children, all of whom are girls. What is the chance that the next child will be a boy? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer: 1/2

Explanation: We assume that boys and girls are equally likely and that having a boy or girl previously has no influence on the gender of the next child, i.e., births are independent events.

Since the outcomes (boy/girl) are equally likely and that whatever happens prior has no effect on the future outcomes, then we can use coin flipping model in this situation.

So, having a child is like flipping a coin: you can get heads (boys) or tails (girls), and the previous coin flips (genders of previous children) don't influence the next coin flip (gender of the next child).