So Exactly how many students ARE there at Hogwarts?

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 191553

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, sigurd at ... wrote:

Otto: 
> Now there's an interesting question.
> 
> If you go by the few fleeting glimpses in the movies, it seems there are thousands, at least hundreds. However whenever we are "taken into a classroom" by Rowling in one of her scenes, how big can the classes be?  We hear many times of Gryffindor taking classes with Slytherin (oddly rarely with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw) Now, how big are the classrooms and hence, how many people in a "form" or year?  We only hear of a handful of members of any class with dialogue and rarely beyond the main protagonists.

<snipped>

> But if the "Houses in Hogwarts" are much larger to allow for a greater number of wizards, then there has to be a lot more teachers to teach them, maybe 30 or 40....
> 
> Interesting.
> 
> It's why you don't want to go down certain paths when you're dealing with magic.

Geoff:
Steven van der Ark has an interesting essay in the Lexicon in which he produces 
evidence to support a Hogwarts of 300 but also points to some canon which 
could imply a much larger figure. So we probably can't reach a consensus 
on this. We can waste time and write reams about our theories with canon 
evidence which is only contradictory. The evidence is too vague.

To be quite frank, I am prepared for my "willing suspension of disbelief" to let 
me drift over this point as I feel that there are many other things to discuss 
of more import than JKR's famed reputation of being numerically challenged 
when it comes to Maths.