Interesting Math problem for Christians and Atheists alike

According to the bible, God created Adam and Eve about 6000 years ago...Lets think about some maths:

Two people multiplying to 6.5 billion in 6000 years. Ignoring the whole flood thing, how many children would eve had needed to give birth to to allow for both the genetic variation and the current population of the planet?

Has anyone ever thought about this before? I might attempt the math myself sometime if no one has.

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Permalink Reply by T A A on September 18, 2011 at 2:12pm

I was in hated Catholic school all my youth and that's how the bible was taught, as a metaphor, especially the old testament, which was slightly scoffed at.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on September 16, 2011 at 9:37pm

No, No, No. You have to do this math after Noah survived the Flood because all the other humans were KILLED! Using Adam and Eve is pointless.

Noah is the key. How many were there in his family after the flood? I forget ... also, Noah lived very long and so did his descendants ...

A guy in my church actually believes the ages are literal. He said our bloodlines has become 'less pure' after so many generations of breeding.

WTF? I questioned him further and he actually thinks it's the BLOOD itself that becomes diluted after generations continue breeding. So people don't live as long anymore ...

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Permalink Reply by matt.clerke on September 18, 2011 at 7:41pm

Going from Noah onwards is probably better...I believe it was Noah, Noah's wife, Noahs three sons, and Noah's sons wife. 4 breeding pairs... Anyone have info on the supposed date of the flood?

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Permalink Reply by Marc Poulin on September 22, 2011 at 4:51pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah's_Ark Scroll down to chronology

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Permalink Reply by James on September 16, 2011 at 10:24pm

I have though of this before, but must admit that I've never attempted the calculation. There's a lot to factor in. You have to estimate what year the flood occurred. You need to adjust for the time each new offspring will need to reach sexual maturity. Infant mortality rates undoubtedly differed through the ages. Etc...

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Permalink Reply by Albert Bakker on September 17, 2011 at 10:34am

Didn't people used to wait several centuries before having children in Noah's time?

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Permalink Reply by Donald S. Chase on September 17, 2011 at 10:14am

The genetic variation problem is solved by Rick Warren in his book "The Purpose Driven Life". In it he states

that God had the wherewithall to give Adam and Eve a wide variety of DNA so that their offspring were not only Middle Eastern but also, Aboriginal, Asian, Caucasian, etc. Imagine the stares she must have received every time she took her brood out to MacDonalds.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan McWilliams on September 17, 2011 at 2:45pm

Awesome question, but you need to add holy magic into the equation.

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Permalink Reply by Lewal on September 22, 2011 at 5:52pm

But Catholic priests can transubstantiate unleavened bread into actual flesh! You can't deny that that's magic. You just can't.

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Permalink Reply by S Luc Harrington on September 17, 2011 at 4:47pm

This would only be a math problem if you believed that the earth is 6000 years old.

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Permalink Reply by T A A on September 18, 2011 at 3:06am

The human population did indeed bottleneck several thousand years ago, according to our genetic diversity, exactly. Not to two individuals obviously, but nonetheless. Trying to mathematicise genetics is not very useful as mutations leading to divergent evolution do not obey any mathematical imperatives. Some periods of history have more frequent mutations, other periods less frequent mutations. Some resultant mutations experience less isolation, some more. Genetics, nothwithstanding Dawkins, is not a mathematical endeavour :)