I had 4 grandparents and 8 great grand parents. Following this logic I had 2 to

Question:

I had 4 grandparents and 8 great grand parents. Following this logic I had 2 to power 80 ancestors in Roman !?

In Roman times. That calculates at many trillion! But that isn't possible since best estimates put world popn. at a few 100 million at that time. I realise that there will be some 'double counting' in this approx calculation but does this account for the difference? Dont forget that was just my ancestors -- What about yours and yours ---------------? Come on you mathematicians there must be a (simple?) answer.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I've read somewhere that all mankind actually descends from a very small group of common ancestors which included as few as 4 females.This conclusion resulted from DNA studies to which mathematics were applied.We all have common ancestors,more or less.Hello,cousin!