Active Now

Danilo_G
Malizz
Randy D
Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » The average size of the American family in 2019 is 3.14 persons. Our family consists of two. Jim and me. How many in your family?

The average size of the American family in 2019 is 3.14 persons. Our family consists of two. Jim and me. How many in your family?

Posted - April 30, 2020

Responses


  • 32527
    4. 
      May 1, 2020 4:05 AM MDT
    1

  • 3680
    3.14....

    .... hence the phrase Family Circle....? :-)
      May 3, 2020 3:21 PM MDT
    3

  • 113301
    Now that is a BRILLIANT connection/observation! It didn't occur to me at all. Thank you for pointing that out. I know the two are disparate and not remotely connected. But I always seek connections in disparate things. Always have. Why I do not know. It tickles me actually that you saw one here. Thank you for your reply Durdle! :)
      May 4, 2020 2:27 AM MDT
    2

  • 3680
    Thankyou!

    Some statistician in 1950s Britain made a similar calculation, of 2.4 children (for that time in the UK) - and probably lived to regret being so arithmetically exact with something that can only be  counted in integers! At least 2.4 is to only one decimal place,  but still absurd and often lampooned in the 1960s along such lines as "The average English family has 2.4 children, a Labrador and a Volvo Estate". That particular car was associated with certain social stereotypes of the time.

    When I was at school we were handed a free mathematics newsletter called "Mathematical Pie" - designed to encourage our interest in maths by presenting us with all sorts of unexpected and intriguing mathematical facts and real uses, its history, puzzles etc. I see it's still published! Anyway, along the foot of each page were groups of digits - something like this: " ...  5462 1398 2966 ..." and so on. 

    They were explained in one edition we had. The numbers were in a sequence that had started many editions previously at 3.1416... i.e. they were the value of Pi that someone with too much computer-time available had decided to calculate to some eye-wateringly high number of decimal places! 
      May 5, 2020 3:45 PM MDT
    2

  • 113301
    What a splendid thoughtful and most importantly INFORMATIVE reply m'dear. Ya know though what caused me to roar? This line. "The average English Family has 2.4 children, a Labrador Retriever and a Volvo!" I think that is HILARIOUS. I have no idea why! Do you? I think having access to something like "Mathematical Pie" is brilliant! Perk the interest early on. In line with that a former US Child Actress, Danica McKellar, allegedly travels to various schools trying to get girls interested in MATH. I guess she is a math whiz. It also calls to mind that true story movie..."Hidden Figures" wherein we discovered that the REAL GENIUSES behind the NASA program were some "women of color" who were math geniuses. Amazing what can happen when you learn about what happened to others isn't it? I think life is a two-edged sword. Be careful of the edges and you're home free. All that sword can be so very interesting! :) I think there is a question in there somewhere.
      May 6, 2020 4:53 AM MDT
    1

  • 3680
    Thank you!

    Yes, the bit about Labradors and Volvos was invented by some satirist, I think.

    The Austrian-American actress Hedi Lamarr who was a mathematician too, or more accurately would have used a lot of maths in her work, for as well as  her film work she also worked on defence electronics and was co-inventor of a very important technique that protects radio transmissions from electrical interference and eavesdropping.

    I have not seen the film but I have heard about the women mathematicians who worked for NASA. They performed very important work, and they do deserve better recognition.

    (I thought so too, when our Government and National Health Service established some pandemic-ready overflow hospitals, and called them Nightingale Hospitals. I though it would appropriate to name the individual ones - the first after Florence Nightingale, yes, but the next two after Mary Seacole and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. All three were involved with caring for the wounded in the Crimean war: Mary Seacole, from Jamaica I think, established a convalescent "hotel"; the great engineer Brunel designed a prefabricated hospital taken in kit form to the Crimea and erected there.)   

    ++++

    Oh, after all that, I will answer your question directly!

    I have no family of my own, but my brother and two sisters and their respective spouses collectively made me an uncle 7 times, and in turn I am now a great-uncle - three times I think at the last count! Or is it four?
      May 8, 2020 3:12 PM MDT
    2

  • 113301
    I learned that about Hedy and it was a shock. Which embarrasses the heck out me. I think she is one of the world's most BEAUTIFUL women who ever lived. Why I'd be shocked that such beauty could also be brilliant disappoints me but it's true. In junior college I had a friend who was drop-dead gorgeous and as intelligent as she was beautiful and she was so sick and tired of people reacting to her appearance FIRST but there was nothing she could do about it. You know what makes me sad though Durdle? Are you familiar with Thomas Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard"? One of the lines is "full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its fragrance on the desert air". How very sad is that? How many people could have made a difference in the world but because of circumstances never got a chance to be whom they could be? Of course the question can never be answered. But it haunts me.  Moving along...I have a sister whom I treasure. You are lucky having THREE siblings and their families. You are close then? That is splendid! I think sometimes families become estranged in life and never get back together again. Do you live within a close distance enough to see them often? Thank you for your thoughtful reply m'dear! :) This post was edited by RosieG at May 9, 2020 2:34 AM MDT
      May 9, 2020 2:33 AM MDT
    0

  • 16197
    Chemist Tu Youyou was the first Chinese Nobel prize winner-  but is best remembered for being the most confusing person in the world to sing "Happy Birthday" to.
      May 10, 2020 5:58 AM MDT
    1

  • 113301
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Good grief you shouldda warned me R! Chemist Tu YOUYOU? Did he/she drink a Hoohoo practice voodoo in a tutu or mumu and boohoo seem kookoo step in dogdoo wear a froufrou poohpooh lulu woo coo in a zoo?

    Profound profuse apologies. You gifted me with big laughs and look how I repay you? BAD ROSIE! Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday/Monday to thee and Maureen et al as it applies! :) Really. Sorry! :(
      May 10, 2020 6:05 AM MDT
    0

  • 3680
    I've probably read Elegy In A Country Churchyard but so long back I don't really remember it.

    I suppose we can take some comfort though from the flower actually being coloured and scented to attract pollinating insects - so perhaps the talent of some of the human "flowers" does find its own expression, but not in a famous way.

    I worked for a company that did employ many women who were both attractive and very clever, and it was definitely for their qualifications and knowledge that they were employed and respected.

    My brother lives in Scotland where he met his wife, about 400 miles away so we don't see each other  more than one or twice a year,  but both sisters are within short walking distances. We don't see each other very often but at least it is easy for us to meet - well,  not at the moment of course.
      May 14, 2020 3:42 PM MDT
    1

  • 113301
    Thank you for your thoughtful reply Durdle. It's nice having family nearby. You're lucky. One of our sons lives 500 miles away in Nevada. The other lives 2500 air miles away in Honolulu. My sister-in-law (Jim's sister) died a few years ago. My sister and brother-in-law live 500 miles away about 50 miles from our son in Nevada. So except for distant cousins somewhere in California with whom we have lost any connection we're here alone. Of course we have friends but family is different. We email and talk on the phone but you can't hug long-distance. Not that we could at the moment. :) Maybe one day? This post was edited by RosieG at May 15, 2020 5:32 AM MDT
      May 15, 2020 5:31 AM MDT
    0

  • 13251
    That means the average family is pi!
      May 8, 2020 3:22 PM MDT
    2

  • 3680
    Yep - hence my first response.

    You've reminded me though:

      -  Mathematicians describe Pi as "irrational and transcendental".....

    Naturally, that fits no family we know! 
      May 8, 2020 4:38 PM MDT
    1

  • Just three in my immediate family. My parents and myself. I'm an only child.  This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at May 8, 2020 5:30 PM MDT
      May 8, 2020 4:53 PM MDT
    1

  • 16197
    4.5 in the household - me, my better half, our adult daughter and teenager niece. The half is our daughter's fiance, who's only on land about half the time.
    Our son has his own place, 3 kids of his own.
      May 8, 2020 5:02 PM MDT
    0

  • 7776
    1. Me - 1
    2. Mom - 1
    3. Dad - 1
    4. Boots (cat) - .14

    Why am I still living with my parents at my age? If I didn't, they would be homeless. This post was edited by Zack at May 15, 2020 6:19 AM MDT
      May 8, 2020 5:05 PM MDT
    2

  • 14795
    Why have you booted the cat Zack...Rosie was only asking a question and that's no reason to kick up a Puss about it..:)D 
      May 15, 2020 6:21 AM MDT
    1