08 July 2022

Not All Birthdays Are Equally Likely

 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What contributes to this? Is it a matter of certain times of the year being popular moments for conception? Or is there evidence to suggest a mother's body will follow certain climatic or other natural rhythms? I am sure that in the modern day, labour and birth are often medically induced.

andrew said...

"Is it a matter of certain times of the year being popular moments for conception?"

Probably. The peak corresponds roughly to Christmas vacation, and Christmas eve is conventionally, the optimal time to propose marriage in time for a May or June wedding.

Medically induced labor and delivery can only slightly tweak the outcomes to plus or minus about two weeks in the most extreme cases. A C-section rarely varies from an expected delivery date by more than a week or so. Labor is rarely induced because it is late sooner than about two weeks after an expected date.