Question

Step 1: if a family (first generation) has two children (second generation), how many descendants will there be in the third generation if each child produces the same number of offspring as their parents (22)? • how many descendants will there be in the fifth generation (24)?

Answer 1

There would be 16 descendants in the 5th generation. 

Answer 2

Here the growth is exponential. The number of offsprings are increasing in the multiples of 2.

So the formula used here would be-

Number of offsprings =
`2^(n)`

where n = number of generations

Number of children in third generation =
`2^(3)` = 8

Number of children in fifth generation =
`2^(5)` = 32

This is the most commonly used equation where population doubles itself after every generation.