there will be math

[marycatelli]

Typing innocently along and abruptly realizing:  there will be math.

Given that our heroine is a member of a class of five students -- admittedly, the girls' class, and a specialized course of study, and I can make make it a small one, but not astoundingly so -- how large is the town they are in?  

If this much of the population does the work that this course trains them for, and they are half of one year, the percentage should be feasible to work out.  Though I might consider having more than one school in the town.  And I still have to work out how many do it.  (Not enough to  make it easy!)

And then I have to break it down because the town also is divided in several populations, which I have already shown as rather large.  Or perhaps they were supplemented by visitors?  Still, a non-trivial number must live in the town. . . .

Comments

[jbellinger]

How close are they in age, and what fraction of their age group do they represent? For youngsters (5-17) in the US, a single year represents about 1.5% of the population; if you just take the girls 0.75%, and if this is an exclusive group (1 in 10, maybe?) 0.075%. If the latter, I get a bit less than 7000 for the population for a class of 5. If 2 years are represented in the class, make it 3500 for the village. Etc.

[marycatelli]

Very close to what I was pondering -- perhaps a little high. I think they may be one in twenty. (Which is a problem.)

[ctl]

Mary, would you mind if I quote your post in my blog? It reminds me of some of the things I need to work out for mysteries, and is a great introduction to how early decisions constrain later ones.

[marycatelli]

Go ahead!