Ancestory question (math)?

Question

If my mom is 1/2 German and my Dad is 1/2 German does that make me 1/2 German or 1/4 German? I think I'm 1/2 but someone said I'd be a fourth?

Answer 1

since you get one half of your ancestry from your mom and the other half from your father, your ancestry is is found by taking half of each of their and adding it up. Therefore you are (0.5)(0.5) german + (0.5)(0.5) german = 2(0.5)^2 = 0.5, or 1/2 german. You were right!

Answer 2

if mom was 1/2 german 1/2 french and your dad is 1/2 german 1/2 italian, then you'd be 1/2 german, 1/4 french, 1/4 italian, i think

Answer 3

you are 1/2 german. Congrats Think about it in terms of chromosomes. If your mother gives you 23 of her chromosomes she is giving you Half of her half of German heritage. So you get 1/4 German from your mom. The same concept applies with your dad's side, and since 1/4 +1/4 =1/2 you are half German. You do not use multiplication for these situations, if you did, the amount of chromosomes in a person would not be concurrent with the next generation.

Another defense is if a pure blood and a mix had a kid, the kid would be 3/4 pure. (1 divided by 2 = .5)+(1/2 divided by 2=.25) =.75. By your friends theory they would be 1/2 pure, which doesn't make sense.

All that aside, you ARE 1/2 German.

Your also 1/4 Scottish  and 1/4 Swedish by the same principle.