An anthropologist studies marriage customs across 7 tribes. Each tribe has a distinct marriage age distribution: uniform, triangular, and bimodal. She selects two tribes at random and compares their common marriage age. If the first tribe has a bimodal distribution centered at ages 18 and 22, and the second has a uniform distribution from 18 to 22, what is the expected overlap (in age range) between the two distributions?

Sat, 09 May 2026 01:40:49 +0000

Exploring Marriage Customs Through Culture: An Anthropologist’s Study of Seven Tribes and Overlapping Age Ranges In the realm of cultural anthropology, marriage remains a powerful lens through which to understand social structure, age norms, and generational values. A recent interdisciplinary study followed an anthropologist who examined marriage age distributions across seven distinct tribes, revealing fascinating patterns shaped by tradition, environment, and social organization. The research highlighted how marriage age varies significantly between communities—sometimes following a uniform, triangular, or even bimodal distribution—offering insights into cultural priorities and demographic adaptation. One particularly illuminating case involved two tribes: Tribe A, characterized by a bimodal marriage age distribution centered at 18 and 22, and Tribe B, whose marriage ages follow a uniform distribution from 18 to 22. While each tribe expresses unique cultural logic, anthropologists compared their common marriage age ranges to assess overlap—an important metric for understanding potential intermarriage possibilities and shared social norms. ### Analyzing the Distributions