Mathematics may be very useful while considering evolution or any other theory regarding the past.
For example: The number of ancestors required for me to have exist doubles every generation into the past, this must happen. 2 parents, one generation back, 25 years. Eight great-grandparents, 3 generations back 75 years.
20 generations back I must have had 1,048,576 grandparents, this is all in one generation of time,500 years ago.
30 generations back, 1,073,741,824 grandparents, of course evenly half men, half women. 750 years ago.
35 generations back it required 17,179,869,184 grandparents for me to exist as I am today. At my 25 year per generation average this would have been 875 years ago.
Now, every generation requires my grandparents to double, a generation can only be so long. Of course there were not 17 billion people on earth, let alone all of European descent 875 years ago. I have thoughts on this, what are yours?
at some point, your (and my, and those of everyone else) ancestors start to appear in the family tree at multiple loci, as the divergent branches cross each other.
this is not a problem.
It seems to me that your argument would rule out the possibility that we all are decendants of Adam and Eve. After all, to go back that many generations, there must have been an astronomical number of people, not two.
Your math is way off. You forgot the extensive in-breeding ...
Not when you use the wrong formula.
For example: The number of ancestors required for me to have exist doubles every generation into the past, this must happen. 2 parents, one generation back, 25 years. Eight great-grandparents, 3 generations back 75 years.
20 generations back I must have had 1,048,576 grandparents, this is all in one generation of time,500 years ago.
30 generations back, 1,073,741,824 grandparents, of course evenly half men, half women. 750 years ago. 35 generations back it required 17,179,869,184 grandparents for me to exist as I am today.
You have not described exponential growth. You have only described the left-hand side of the parabola: f(x)=x^2
Populations tend to grow exponentially over time until they reach some bounds which limit their growth such as the amont of food or space available, at which time the growth flattens out.
The correct formula to describe ideal exponential growth is transcendential function using powers of e. The size of a population at any given time t with a starting population P and a growth rate of k can be expressed as P(t)=e^(k*t)
Using this equasion one can calclulate what the population will be at a certain time. Conversely, given the current population one can calculate what the population was in the past without reaching the false conclusion that there were many billions of people in the past for each person alive today.
This is a misuse of mathematics, either stemming from a lack of understanding of exponential growth, or a desire to disprove evolution, or both.
I think you think completely backwards.
LOL