I think it's actually been 2.5 years, this time.

[theweaselking]

It's That Time Of Year Again!

You run a zoo! Your head cloning scientist says she has two new baby velociraptors to show you. You fire her immediately for CLONING VELOCIRAPTORS, but you're still stuck with a few million dollars worth of baby animal that you can't necessarily afford to trash out of hand.

"Well", you think, "at least if they're all male, they can't breed with my *existing* population of 100%-male no-frog-DNA screw-you-Crichton velociraptors. Exactly 50% of all cloned velociraptor babies are male! Maybe I can keep them."

So you call your *new* head cloning scientist and ask *her* if at least one of the babies is male. She is briefly confused about the nature of your query, and then she has to bone up (no pun intended) on sex determination of infant cloned dinosaurs, but then she comes back and says "Yes! One of the babies is male!"

While this is technically the question you asked, this is not the answer you *wanted*. So, facing the loss of millions and losing your temper, you thank her and hang up so you can think.

And so, we reach your question: What are the odds that the second velociraptor is also male?

[EDIT: Your question was "is at least one male?". Her answer is "Yes! At least one is male!". This is not a trick based on the wording from your second-best cloning scientist.]

[EDIT2: Is is not a wording-based trick of any sort. You have two babies, each with a 50% chance of being male and a 50% chance of being female. One of the babies is male. What are the odds that the other baby is also male?]

Comments

[kadath.livejournal.com]

It's combinations, not permutations. The order doesn't matter.

[kafziel.livejournal.com]

It does matter, because "one male and one female" is twice as likely as either "two females" or "two males".

[kadath.livejournal.com]

...

ARGH I need to review this shit.

[cacahuate.livejournal.com]

What kafziel said. If you have two kids, they're not more likely to be of the same sex than of opposite sexes.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

Well, they're just as likely to be the same sex than opposite sexes.

What you mean is, they're not more likely to be "both male" or "both female" than opposite sexes. :p

[cacahuate.livejournal.com]

I meant what I said. "Just as likely" is "not more likely." kadath's setup, on the other hand, would suggest that you'd be more likely to have two kids of the same sex (either sex) than to have two kids of opposite sexes.