Math Is Fun Forum

tt

Member

Registered: 2005-07-03

Posts: 32

rabbit farm

I found this puzzle on web, no solutions :
Supposed that every 2 mature rabbits reproduce 2 baby rabbits each month and baby rabbits will be mature and reproduce after 2 months.
How many rabbits will you have after 10 months if you start with 2 mature rabbits ?

Last edited by tt (2005-07-14 17:44:51)

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,421

Re: rabbit farm

This is much more complicated than what I thought!

Last edited by Jai Ganesh (2005-07-14 18:54:00)

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: rabbit farm

Work out how many rabbits you get over the first few months. Notice any patterns?
*Works out answer* Oh, that's gross!

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,421

Re: rabbit farm

You mean 144? My friend says it is ___!

Last edited by Jai Ganesh (2005-07-14 19:42:20)

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: rabbit farm

Yes, but it was meant to be a subtle hint.
And I've just realised I'm wrong, anyway.

To MathsIsFun, the mature rabbits breed every month, not every two.

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: rabbit farm

0 months: 2 Adults, 2 Babies
2 months: 4 Adults, 4 Babies
4 months: 8 Adults, 8 Babies
...

Huh? Is it that simple ... I must have made a mistake.

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: rabbit farm

120 rabbits?

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: rabbit farm

172 rabbits?

Notice any patterns?

Fibonacci!

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: rabbit farm

This is becoming very interesting. I get 178.

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: rabbit farm

Okay, assume we start with a male–female pair and all babies are born as male-female pairs.

AA = Adult (mature) pair, JJ = Juvenile (one-month old) pair, BB = Baby (newborn) pair

Starting with AA:

Total rabbits at end of 10 months = 2×(28 + 13 + 19) = 120.

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: rabbit farm

All right, I see something there. I have assumed that the rabbits become mature at the end of two months, but don’t start reproducing at two months yet – i.e. they start reproducing only in their third month. (I mean, I’ve assumed that the rabbits are born at the end of each month and reach maturity at the end of two months – so they wouldn’t have time yet to reproduce.)

EDIT: Anyway, I’ve just made a re-calculation on the revised assumption that the juveniles can reproduce as soon as they reach maturity (just add a blue arrow from each JJ to the BB below it in my diagram above). Guess what answer I got.

288.

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2007-03-17 12:28:12)

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: rabbit farm

Haha, I can't add properly! I actually got 178 too.

Oops, my bad!

What I think:

month    a   j   b   t
 1)      1           1
 2)      1       1   2
 3)      1   1   1   3
 4)      2   1   2   5
 5)      3   2   3   8
 6)      5   3   5  13
 7)      8   5   8  21
 8)     13   8  13  34
 9)     21  13  21  55
10)     34  21  34  89

With the letters representing the same things as Jane's, in pairs. And 't' being the total number of pairs.

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: rabbit farm

The month numbers you have there are for the beginning of the month. Thus your month 10 would mean beginning of that month, meaning only 9 full months have passed. Since the question wants 10 months, I think you should add another month’s calculation … which should bring the total number of rabbits to 288.

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: rabbit farm

Yes, I see. If the month numbers there are for the end of the month, I have assumed that the rabbits don't reproduce in the first month. So, do the rabbits reproduce in the first month?

EDIT: Actually, I suppose they would. I think you're right. Ganesh even said the number of pairs at the start, didn't he?