Abstract

If at each conception couples have some control over the sex of their intended offspring, their chances of reaching a desired ultimate family composition will be influenced by the specific order in which they try for sons and daughters. This article introduces and discusses the mathematics of the strategy decisions that arise where probabilities remain constant at each birth. In the Appendix probabilities and their generating functions for distributions ofi children of one sex and 1–2 children of the other sex are given.

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