The three most common surnames in Spain, as we saw last week, are García, Rodríguez and González, the first held by almost one and a half million people and the other two by close to a million. If we continue with the list of the most frequent surnames, in tenth place we find Martín, with almost half a million bearers, and in fifteenth place Moreno, with just over three hundred thousand. That is to say, there are three times as many Garcías as there are Martines and five times as many as Morenos. Will this proportion be maintained in the future?
“In principle, yes,” says So-and-So. Presumably they are all equally prolific, so the García men will have, overall, three times as many children as the Martín men, and if the custom of adopting the father’s surname continues, in the next generation there will also be three times as many. Garcias.
“That is a very simplistic view,” Mengano replies. In reality, there will be, proportionally, more and more Garcías.
“According to that,” says So-and-so, “in the long run everyone could end up with the last name García.”
What do you think?
Regarding the Pareto principle, a curious example that almost seems like a joke:
In many companies the habit of solving all types of problems through meetings is firmly rooted. However, of the total workday, 20% of the time is usually “wasted” in taking coffee breaks or other types of informal breaks, and these breaks give rise to 80% of social interactions, which in turn They promote discussions that are essential for the functioning of the company.
Paradoxically, most decisions are made during the time when one is supposedly not working.
From joke to paradox
A reader asked the following question:
“We have two numerical sets, A and B. If we remove an element from set A and transfer it to B, is it possible that the arithmetic mean of both sets increases?”
And our regular commentator Manuel Amorós answered:
“In a very simple case, we can consider three numbers: a greater than b and b greater than c. We can form two sets: (a, b) (c). If we pass b to the second set, the mean of both sets increases. The same is achieved in the opposite direction. I vaguely remember a joke involving two US states; It was said that there was the possibility that an inhabitant of one state would live in the other, resulting in a decrease in the average IQ in both states.”
The joke in question (with an increase in the average instead of a decrease), attributed to comedian Will Rogers, is the following:
“When a resident of Oklahoma moves to California, the average intelligence of both states increases.”
The paradox is that, at first glance, it seems that if the average intelligence increases in both states, the country’s average will also increase, something that is impossible to occur by the mere fact that a person travels from one state to another.
But, on the other hand, is anyone useful? What requirement must Rogers’ traveler meet for his movement to cause an increase in average intelligence in both states?
#Rogers #effect #joke #paradox