# If I hadn't killed 52 flies as a child, how many descendants would they have had by n

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-hadnt-killed-52-flies-as-a-child-how-many-descendants-would-they-have-had-by-n/477895>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 19, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-hadnt-killed-52-flies-as-a-child-how-many-descendants-would-they-have-had-by-n/477895 "2008-12-19T13:06:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gjohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@gjohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gjohnson)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-hadnt-killed-52-flies-as-a-child-how-many-descendants-would-they-have-had-by-n/477895/1 "2008-12-19T13:06:33Z")

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I did not try to do you math but the Milky Way is about 30 kiloparsecs across.

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**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-hadnt-killed-52-flies-as-a-child-how-many-descendants-would-they-have-had-by-n/477895/2 "2008-12-19T13:13:07Z")

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[Link to column.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/21/if-i-hadnt-killed-52-flies-as-a-child-how-many-descendants-would-they-have-had-by-now)