Galton-Watson process

Meaning

Noun

• A branching stochastic process arising from the statistical investigation of the extinction of family names, which are modelled as patrilineal, while offspring are randomly either male or female, and names become extinct if holders die without male descendants. It is useful in understanding human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups.

Origin

• Devised by Francis Galton and Henry William Watson and published in an 1874 paper.