farmdoc's blog post number 295

Last 27 January I wrote of left-handed Presidents of the US [POTUS] of whom President Obama, POTUS44, is the latest. Living in the White House with him are his two children – daughters, actually – Malia and Natasha. George W Bush’s twin daughters were in their late teens when their dad became POTUS43, and they lived in the White House during his presidency. POTUS 42 Clinton’s only daughter, Chelsea, did too. Therefore, the latest three POTUSs collectively have five daughters and no sons. POTUS41 Bush senior, the old dog, has two daughters and four sons, who were all too old to live in the White House during his presidency. POTUS40 Reagan had three daughters and one son (from both his marriages combined) who also were all too old to live in the White House during his presidency. POTUS39 Carter’s only child, daughter Amy, lived in the White House. POTUS38 Ford had four children of whom the youngest, Susan, lived in the White House. So the last seven children to live in the White House were all girls. I don’t know the probability of this outcome: my intuition says it’s 1 in 128 (i.e. ½ x ½ six times). I don’t know if that’s correct, but clearly it’s a small chance. I don't know if any, and if so how many, of them is left-handed. And what’s more, I’m not going to find out. I’ll just let that one go through to the keeper.