Two babies

Harry_the_cat

Harry_the_cat

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Two babies were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.

How can this be?
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Two babies were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.

How can this be?
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They were triplets (or more).

(But the fact that "month" and "year" are mentioned separately from "day" does suggest that "day" could mean something like "day of the week", not the actual day; and twins are never literally born at the same time; I was born five minutes later than my brother.)
 
Dr.Peterson said:
They were triplets (or more).

(But the fact that "month" and "year" are mentioned separately from "day" does suggest that "day" could mean something like "day of the week", not the actual day; and twins are never literally born at the same time; I was born five minutes later than my brother.)
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I have an odd question arisen from your first answer. Are triplets also twins? (I haven't given this some thought before).
Say you have triplets A, B, and C. Can you say that the pairs (A, B) ; (A, C) ; (B, C) are twins?
 
BigBeachBanana said:
I have an odd question arisen from your first answer. Are triplets also twins? (I haven't given this some thought before).
Say you have triplets A, B, and C. Can you say that the pairs (A, B) ; (A, C) ; (B, C) are twins?
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Not in my experience, or in my dictionary. I've known a triplet who happily said she wasn't a twin. And the word comes from "two".

Of course, if mathematicians got to define it, they would probably define it inclusively, as "one of two or more". But for that purpose, we have the word "multiple".

A search turns up one situation in which two of a set of triplets are called twins: when they have a special connection. Here, I find:

However, it is not uncommon for triplets to be dizygotic, which occurs when two separate eggs are each fertilized, and one of the fertilized eggs then splits into two. Essentially, two of the triplets are monozygotic (identical) twins, sharing the same general DNA characteristics, while the third triplet having been conceived with a different egg and sperm has a unique genetic makeup from the other two.​
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Two babies were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
How can be?
Click to expand...

Two babies were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
In medical literature such children are referred to as twins. Albeit they may have different fathers.
Superfecundation is the fertilization of two or more ova from the same cycle by sperm from separate acts of sexual intercourse, which can lead to twin babies from two separate biological fathers. The term superfecundation is derived from fecund, meaning the ability to produce offspring. Homopaternal
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Two babies were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.

How can this be?
Click to expand...

Chinese year? For example both 2017 and 2005 were both years of the Rooster.
Male seahorses carry the fertilised eggs until they become "babies" (fry). Perhaps it's possible that a generous mum donated eggs to two dads at a similar time (although this is unlikely since I found an article that implies that her eggs go to one male).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/seahorse-fathers-take-reins-in-childbirth

And IMO, they are setting the bar way too high in terms of their courtship, "The reproductive process begins when a male and a female seahorse do daily pre-dawn dances, intertwining their tails and swimming together. Eventually they engage in a true courtship dance, which can last as long as eight hours. It ends with the female depositing her eggs in the male's pouch". And I thought a quick TV dinner beforehand was being attentive ;) :ROFLMAO:
 
Cubist said:
And I thought a quick TV dinner beforehand was being attentive ;) :ROFLMAO:
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I would at least make her dinner. But then I'm divorced so maybe I'm not a good cook!

-Dan
 
Ok all you Smart Alecs, I'm going to reword my initial question:

Two human babies, conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male, were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.

How can this be?

Interested to hear the different takes on this one!! :ROFLMAO:
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Ok all you Smart Alecs, I'm going to reword my initial question:

Two human babies, conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male, were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.

How can this be?

Interested to hear the different takes on this one!! :ROFLMAO:
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Those might not be referred to as twins in non-English speaking countries!!!
 
If I saw two identical people, I might say that I saw twins today. I guess I need to be more careful, as they might have been triplets.
There needs to be a words that means twins or above.
Math people are strange.
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Ok all you Smart Aleks, I'm going to reword my initial question:
Two human babies, conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male, were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
Click to expand...
You posted that Two human babies are born. Well two means two: [imath]1\; 2[/imath] not [imath]3[/imath] but exactly two.
Triplets are three not two. In the medical community two babies born are twins; three babies born are triplets; four babies born are quads.

[imath][/imath][imath][/imath][imath][/imath]
 
pka said:
You posted that Two human babies are born. Well two means two: [imath]1\; 2[/imath] not [imath]3[/imath] but exactly two.
Triplets are three not two. In the medical community two babies born are twins; three babies born are triplets; four babies born are quads.

[imath][/imath][imath][/imath][imath][/imath]
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Give me a break pka! I didn't say or imply that only two were born. Those two were born. There just happened to be another one, or two, or three...
 
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This is a bit like the question of whether an equilateral triangle is an isosceles triangle!! Waiting patiently for your responses!!
1655263757174.png
 
Harry_the_cat said:
This is a bit like the question of whether an equilateral triangle is an isosceles triangle!! Waiting patiently for your responses!!
View attachment 33082
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Exactly what I was thinking! Sometimes (even in math) 2 means exactly 2, and sometimes it means at least 2. An isoceles triangle is a figure with 3 sides, in which 2 sides are equal. The 3 is exact, the 2 is not. How do you know?

But I have to say, the riddle whose answer I was thinking of probably involved just meeting two people, not being told that two babies were born. I think pka has a point.
 
Geez! Point taken Dr P. Interesting to learn that you are a twin. Identical?

How's this:

I once met two humans who were conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male. They were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
How can this be?
 
Harry_the_cat said:
Geez! Point taken Dr P. Interesting to learn that you are a twin. Identical?

How's this:

I once met two humans who were conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male. They were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
How can this be?
Click to expand...
I think the problem should be written:
Harry_the_cat said:
I once met at least two humans who were conceived by a single act of copulation after a delicious dinner cooked by the male. They were born to the same mother and father, on the same date, a few minutes apart, in the same month and year and yet they are not twins.
How can this be?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
in order to make it clear.

-Dan
 
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