Bill Tufts wrote: > Once in a while, someone swells up his chest and announces to me that > he > has 8,000 names in his family tree, or he has 25,000 names, or, or, > or....... So, how big is your family tree? > > Columnist Pat MacAdam's column appeared in the Ottawa Sun last Sunday > (May 13) and towards the end of it, he changed the subject and > explained > he had been asked by a university in Oregon for a DNA sample and they > would pick up the $253 (US) cost. > > "The object of the DNA test was to determine if I might be a > descendant of > Brian Boru, one of the last great kings of Ireland and, therefore, I > might > be a Pretender to the Irish throne." > > He then explained how the university emailed him weekly reports and he > and an orange grower in California shared 37 identical DNA markers. He > concluded with: > > "Cold water was dashed on my dreams of ermine and purple when I read > an online story about Genghis Khan. It seems that a team of credible > PhDs > has conjectured there might be between 16-17 million "offspring" of > the > warrior walking around with his DNA." > > > Now, have you nearly finished collecting everyone in your family tree? > Brian Boru lived in the 11 th century, or about 1050 years ago. Allowing 30 years average per generation that is 35 generations. A complete 35 generation family tree will have 2^35 = 34,359,738,368 ancestors in the 35th generation, which is at least 60 to 100 times greater than the entire population of the world at that time (300 to 500 million). In other words "everybody is descended from Brian Boru" (and Charlegmagne, and Julius Caesar, and ...). Ron Martell Microsoft MVP http://onlinehelp.bc.ca