The generation game.The families below are all single parent families with a difference. The parent has never had a partner. All the offspring are produced asexually a·sex·u·aladj. 1. Having no evident sex or sex organs; sexless. 2. Relating to, produced by, or involving reproduction that occurs without the union of male and female gametes, as in binary fission or budding. 3. . The offspring in a particular generation are all the same length (letterwise). The letters are each assigned their alphabetical values (a= 1, b=2 etc). Unreferenced words can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary (OED) great multi-volume historical dictionary of English. [Br. Hist.: Caught in the Web of Words] See : Lexicography , Second Edition. Locations, identified by country, are taken from The United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is an American federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government. Overview The Board was created in 1890; its present form derives from a law of 1947. . Other references: cad = An Archaic Dictionary by W.R. Cooper, 1876; dor = Dorland's Medical Dictionary Dorland's is the brand name of several different medical dictionaries and ancillary products, chiefly Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (currently in its 31st edition) and Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary (currently in its 27th edition). ; nz = Nomenclator no·men·cla·tor n. One who assigns names, as in scientific classification. [Latin n  mencl Zoologicus; sted =
Stedman's Medical Dictionary A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The three major English language medical dictionaries are Stedman's, Taber's, and Dorland's medical dictionaries. ; web2 = Webster's Second Edition.
CENTURY WORDS AND THEIR RELATIVES The grandparent is a century word; the offspring each weigh 50; their offspring each weigh 25: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BALANCED FAMILIES A balanced word is one whose average letter weight (total weight divided by number of letters) is 13.5. All the family members below are balanced. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So far, all the offspring of a particular generation have been the same weight but this is about to change. The weights of the offspring below are represented by successive numbers in their particular genre. PRIME FAMILIES The weight of the parent is a prime. The weights of the 3 offspring are successive primes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FIBONACCI FAMILIES The Fibonnaci number series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 ... Three successive Fibonacci numbers represent the weights of the parent and 2 offspring: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SQUARE FAMILIES Square numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A CUBE FAMILY Is there a parent and 3 offspring which are represented by the following 4 successive cubes? 216 ([6.sup.3]) = 27 ([3.sup.3] + 64 ([4.sup.3] + 125 ([5.sup.3]) NUMERICALLY-PALINDROMIC FAMILIES 33 = 11 + 22 appears to be the only parent/offspring weight relationship that consists of 3 successive numerical palindromes- apart from 3 = 1 + 2: AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association. (Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. (3) cad = A (1) + AA (2). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A MIXED UP FAMILY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Appearances can be deceptive. At first glance, the parent's weight is a square, whilst the weights of the 3 offspring are a cube, a numerical palindrome palindrome: see anagram. , and another square respectively. But three of the weights (144, 8, 55) are also Fibonnaci numbers. So, in reality, this mixed up family incorporates 4 different numerical genres. SUSAN THORPE Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England thorpeds@hotmail.com |
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