[HPforGrownups] Hogwarts Pop (was: the sorting hat problem)

[Troels Forchhammer]

No: HPFGUIDX 54661

At 18:06 31-03-03 +0000, Serena Moonsilver wrote:
 > This particular issue has been the subject of much (much!) debate.
 > Offically, JK has said that there around 1000 students at Hogwarts.
 > With 200 in a house, that puts it at 800.  Though most people arrive
 > at or arround the 280 you mentioned when you actually try and
 > calculate it.

One of the main problems stems from the documentary "Harry
and me" where Rowling shows to the camara a list of 41
student names, which she tells is the whole of Harry's
year (the pictures are in this groups photo section).

Even if you assume that Harry's year is below average,
I can't imagine that it should be only about 1/4 of the
other years.

There is, however, much evidence that Rowling, while an
extraordinarily good writer is considerably more limited
in her mathematical skills. There is the dating issue
<http://www.hogwarts-library.net/reference/Harry_Potter_timeline.html>
and several other issues (the real world value of a
Galleon would indicate a gold content of less than
1 gram).

In the end it might be best to not wonder about it,
because there is no way to make the numbers meet, and
we have several indications that Rowling just hasn't
bothered to make numbers meet at all.

Troels