Getting Started with Data Science: Making Sense of Data with Analytics

Chapter 7. Why Tall Parents Don’t Have Even Taller Children

You might have noticed that taller parents often have tall children who are not necessarily taller than their parents—and that’s a good thing. This is not to suggest that children born to tall parents are not necessarily taller than the rest. That may be the case, but they are not necessarily taller than their own “tall” parents. Why I think this to be a good thing requires a simple mental simulation. Imagine if every successive generation born to tall parents were taller than their parents, in a matter of couple of millennia, human beings would become uncomfortably tall for their own good, requiring even bigger furniture, cars, and planes.

Sir Frances Galton in 1886 studied the same ...