. There is still a 50% chance the second child is a boy and a 50% chance that the second child is a girl.
No there’s not. The cases where the second child is a boy and the second child is a girl are not equal probability.
I have flipped two coins. One of the coins came up heads. What is the probability that both are heads?
If you picked “heads” before flipping the coins, then the probability is 1⁄3. There are three possibilities: HT, TH, and HH, and all of these possibilities are equally likely.
I have flipped two coins. One I flipped on a Tuesday and it came up heads. What is the probability that both are heads?
If you picked “heads” and “Tuesday” before knowing when you would be flipping the coins, and then flipped each coin on a randomly-selected day, and you just stopped if there weren’t any heads on Tuesday, then the answer is the same as the answer for boys on Tuesday. If you flipped the coin and then realized it was Tuesday, the Tuesday doesn’t affect the result.
The sex of one child has no influence on the sex of the other child, nor does the day on which either child was born influence the day any other child was born.
If you picked the sex first before looking at the children, the sex of one child does influence the sex of the other child because it affects whether you would continue or say “there aren’t any of the sex I picked” and the sexes in the cases where you would continue are not equally distributed.
No there’s not. The cases where the second child is a boy and the second child is a girl are not equal probability.
If you picked “heads” before flipping the coins, then the probability is 1⁄3. There are three possibilities: HT, TH, and HH, and all of these possibilities are equally likely.
If you picked “heads” and “Tuesday” before knowing when you would be flipping the coins, and then flipped each coin on a randomly-selected day, and you just stopped if there weren’t any heads on Tuesday, then the answer is the same as the answer for boys on Tuesday. If you flipped the coin and then realized it was Tuesday, the Tuesday doesn’t affect the result.
If you picked the sex first before looking at the children, the sex of one child does influence the sex of the other child because it affects whether you would continue or say “there aren’t any of the sex I picked” and the sexes in the cases where you would continue are not equally distributed.