Genealogical Trees
This chart shows a typical recurrence of ancestors in the genealogy for a set of 14 individuals in the present (n=0, represented by turquoise squares at the bottom). The color of squares in earlier generations (n=1, 2, 3, etc.) denotes the amount of connectedness (red being many connections, blue standing for fewer connections) to other squares. The numbers at the left indicate the degree of connectedness of the leftmost individual. Alternatively, the colors can be thought to represent the probability (red the most probable, blue the least) of possible ancestral paths. The patterns of recurrence resemble those seen in other physics problems. (Courtesy of Susanna Manrubia)
This research is reported by Bernard Derrida, Susanna C. Manrubia, and Damian H. Zanette, Physical Review Letters, 1 March 1999..
