Ive been wondering for years... They only mention 5 boys and 5 girls in each house, for each year. This means 280 people, however in the great hall J.K. gives the impression there is a greater number
Could someone please throw some light either using a lumos spell as i am a squib or by using the deluminator? _________________ Im clinically depressed i was born a muggle
Yep, 40 in each year, times 7 is 280, I've come to that figure, too.
JK has said it was about 1000, but that doesn't add up, although I'm not one to argue. _________________ Yas and Simmy - putting Luna on catwalks since 2008! If I had an otter I would call it Harryp
she always says how there are "hundreds" of voices on one side or the other whenever they play quidditch.
i've always thought there were 280, also.
it seems like jk rowling just makes things not make sense when she interviews about harry potter. _________________ if peeing your pants is cool, consider me miles davis!
JKR said once that it was 1,000 students. JKR also said she was bad at math.
However, when she saw the scene in the Great Hall, with all the students (aka extras) She said that was accurate. There were 300 students, according to the film makers. Keep the number 300 in mind...
When they have flying lessons in SS/PS it says there are about "20 broomsticks" The Gryffindors had flying lessons with the Slytherins. That means there were about 20 students between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins in Hermione's year.
When they have Herbology class in CoS there are about 20 earmuffs. The Gryffindors have that class with the Hufflepuffs. So between the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs there are about 20 students total.
Thre could be more Hufflepuffs than Gryfindors and more Slytheirns than Gryffindors. But for argument sake, and to make the math easy for me, let's just say there 10 students in each class.
10 students... 4 classes.... 7 grades....
10x4= 40 students in each grade
40x7= 280 students in Hogwarts.
280 is very close to 300, just as JKR imagined. _________________ ^made by Fiendfyre
^ Thanks for that, 300 does seem about right, there could very well be extra students in other years. _________________ Yas and Simmy - putting Luna on catwalks since 2008! If I had an otter I would call it Harryp
Myeah. I really doubt that each year, Hogwarts accepts only 40 students and throws the rest out. So could more. Oooor...
It could be less! *mysterious Trelawney voice*
Dun dun dun. _________________ Fact 1: Moody rocks your socks. And mine too.
Fact 2: Ron rocks everyone's socks. Except Dobby's.
Fact 3: Harry and Hermione are not meant to be together. :'< Stop the myth-spreading.
Fact 4: Snape > James.
Fact 5: Grindelwald > Voldemort.
In England? Definitely more than 40. I guess there'll always be the big-noses that prefer private education because they are too cool for school, and I guess that not everyone goes to Hogwarts. I think that Harry's situation with the Dursleys (Where they tried to stop him from going) is not the only one, and not even the worst one. Some others might decide to choose other schools.
40 wizards per year is pathetically little for a country with 50-60-70-80-something million Muggles. :3 _________________ Fact 1: Moody rocks your socks. And mine too.
Fact 2: Ron rocks everyone's socks. Except Dobby's.
Fact 3: Harry and Hermione are not meant to be together. :'< Stop the myth-spreading.
Fact 4: Snape > James.
Fact 5: Grindelwald > Voldemort.
yea, but those are all muggles.
on hogwarts is a private school... or the students have to be paid for, anyway. _________________ if peeing your pants is cool, consider me miles davis!
Rowling did say she created less than a hundred Students when she originally set out writing. However, just because she didnt name all of them, doesnt mean they arent there. The story is told from Harry's point of view, and I'm sure he hasnt met every student in Hogwarts. It simply isnt relevant.
Also, about the amount of students in the classes, not all of the Gryffindors and Slytherins had to be in that flying lesson. They have periods (which is explained quite clearly), so the rest of the first years could have simply had Flying lessons in a different period than Harry. The size of each class is small (to help the teachers, like in real schools), but not indicative of the number of students total.
Rowling did say she created less than a hundred Students when she originally set out writing. However, just because she didnt name all of them, doesnt mean they arent there. The story is told from Harry's point of view, and I'm sure he hasnt met every student in Hogwarts. It simply isnt relevant.
Also, about the amount of students in the classes, not all of the Gryffindors and Slytherins had to be in that flying lesson. They have periods (which is explained quite clearly), so the rest of the first years could have simply had Flying lessons in a different period than Harry. The size of each class is small (to help the teachers, like in real schools), but not indicative of the number of students total.
each house does stick with each other for most classes. _________________ if peeing your pants is cool, consider me miles davis!
Not necessarily. Harry goes to classes with the Gryffindors he knows, sure.
At the beginning of classes, Harry and/or Ron always comment on their classes... and they say things like Gryffindors have double potions with the Slytherins. So we know that all the student from the Houses go to class together.
Also, JKR has said that there are ten students in Harry's year in
Quote:
Gryffindor...
MA: Speaking of Gryffindor- students, do you have the name of those two Gryffindor girls?
JKR: Oh, God. (laughs)
SU: Pressure’s on!
JKR: Do you know what? I swear to you, I will find the damn notebook, (ma laughs) and I will put it on my website. I will put it on my website, (SU: Woo hoo!) that will be my gift to you.
JN: Your whole notebook? (laugh)
JKR: No, are you mad? (All laugh) (SU: That’d be awesome.) That’s for the Scottish Book. No.
JN: Of course, yeah.
JKR: Just the two names. I will put two names up.
MA: It’s just so funny because this thing has been- you know, it’s been, like, five years or something, just that question.
JKR: Yes, it’s been- exactly. We’ve been talking about that for four years, I think it is now.
JN: I’m sure it’s not going to shatter the Earth, or anything, once we figure out who it is.
JKR: No, to be honest, I really don’t think it will, (MA: No, no.) because I never mentioned them once in the canon, so…
JKR: In the world? Oh, Emerson, my maths is so bad.
ES: Is there a ratio of Muggles to wizards -
MA: Or in Hogwarts.
JKR: Well, Hogwarts. All right. Here is the thing with Hogwarts. Way before I finished “Philosopher's Stone,” when I was just amassing stuff for seven years, between having the idea and publishing the book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year. I'm delighted I did it, [because] it was so useful. I got 40 pretty fleshed out characters. I never have to stop and invent someone. I know who’s in the year, I know who's in which house, I know what their parentage is, and I have a few personal details on all of them. So there were 40. I never consciously thought, “That's it, that' s all the people in his year,” but that's kind of how it's worked out. Then I've been asked a few times how many people and because numbers are not my strong point, one part of my brain knew 40, and another part of my brain said, “Oh, about 600 sounds right.” Then people started working it out and saying, "Where are the other kids sleeping?" [Laughter.] We have a little bit of a dilemma there. I mean, obviously magic is very rare. I wouldn't want to say a precise ratio. But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being sent to Hogwarts, then that's very few wizard-to-Muggle population, isn’t it? There will be the odd kid whose parents don't want them to go to Hogwarts, but 600 out of the whole of Britain is tiny.
Let's say three thousand [in Britain], actually, thinking about it, and then think of all the magical creatures, some of which appear human. So then you've got things like hags, trolls, ogres and so on, so that's really bumping up your numbers. And then you've got the world of sad people like Filch and Figg who are kind of part of the world but are hangers on. That's going to bump you up a bit as well, so it's a more sizable, total magical community that needs hiding, concealing, but don't hold me to these figures, because that's not how I think.
As she said, not every wizard or witch goes to Hogwarts. Even Draco's father considered sending him to Durmstrang. _________________ ^made by Fiendfyre
That would be amazing to be in a HUGE school with only 300 students. No one gets in your way...ever. _________________ Yas and Simmy - Putting Luna on catwalks since 2008!
She also said "So there were 40. I never consciously thought, “That's it, that's all the people in his year...” leaving the question of how many people truly are in Harry's year, and of course that Harry does not know or encounter every student. The only problem is the situation with the Gryffindor dormitories, only bedding five students. But this could also be explained (though it is purely speculative).
The classes are easily explained. Gryffindors having double potions with the Slytherins doesnt mean that every student in that house is attending that particular class. The classes are merely split between two houses, there's no reason why there cant be another period later in the day/week with the rest of the students in the class. They dont have every class every day, so it would be manageable. If my math is correct, it would take 4 classes per year if there are two periods to each house. There are seven years (but many students do not take certain classes past the 5th year, so we will only include up to 5th years for this), so there are 20 classes per teacher.
That's 4 classes a day. We know that Harry has two classes before lunch, and two after. It would not make sense for there to be so many classes if there were so few students.
So if that's right, then there are 20 students per house, per year. 20 times 4 is 80, and 80 times 7 is 560. This is much closer to the "About 600" number that Rowling had given.
With exponential population growth the figure couldn't remain stagnant over a period of hundreds of years. Maybe in Harry's year there were only 40 people, but that doesn't necessarily mean there are 40 in every other year. _________________
With exponential population growth the figure couldn't remain stagnant over a period of hundreds of years. Maybe in Harry's year there were only 40 people, but that doesn't necessarily mean there are 40 in every other year.
That's what I would assume, as well. As with every generation, the population each year could vary. 40 students , or thereabouts, in Harry's year does not necassarily mean there are 40 students every year. _________________ ^made by Fiendfyre
It's a rough estimate. No one said that every year was the exact same size (that would be rather creepy), but given a 7-year period, I highly doubt the figure will vary more than 10 in either direction.
Also note that it's stated that Wizards are a dying breed, there's less and less of them than ever. This would carry over to their children and thus, to the amount of people attending Hogwarts.
Also note that it's stated that Wizards are a dying breed, there's less and less of them than ever. This would carry over to their children and thus, to the amount of people attending Hogwarts.
Where is that mentioned? All I can remember is talk about pure-bloods "dying out". _________________
That being said, I thought the topic was how many people attend Hogwarts while Harry is there (naturally, we see Hogwarts mostly through his point of view). And with the way classes are set up and Rowling's statements, I'm thinking the number IS close to 600.
Not to mention Hogwarts is magical. If a population explosion causes there to be a large influx of students, I'm quite positive that the castle could be expanded upon, and more teachers hired. It happens with every school, I would think Hogwarts no different. I mean, Hogwarts has the names of all magical children listed at birth. Surely they would know in time if there was going to be a number of students that they could not handle.
But nowhere in the book it is written that there are only five boys and five girls ina year in a group. It is shown to us that other four boys live with Harry in Gryffindor, and other four girls live with Hermione in her year in Gryfdfindor. But maybe there are more students than that. I mean Hogwarts is so huge, there must be more number of students.
I know I poosted this, but no one seems to have read it... There are only 5 girls in Gryffindor.
JKR said that there are two other girls in Gryffindor....
Quote:
MA: Speaking of Gryffindor- students, do you have the name of those two Gryffindor girls?
JKR: Oh, God. (laughs)
SU: Pressure’s on!
JKR: Do you know what? I swear to you, I will find the damn notebook, (ma laughs) and I will put it on my website. I will put it on my website, (SU: Woo hoo!) that will be my gift to you.
JN: Your whole notebook? (laugh)
JKR: No, are you mad? (All laugh) (SU: That’d be awesome.) That’s for the Scottish Book. No.
JN: Of course, yeah.
JKR: Just the two names. I will put two names up.
MA: It’s just so funny because this thing has been- you know, it’s been, like, five years or something, just that question.
JKR: Yes, it’s been- exactly. We’ve been talking about that for four years, I think it is now.
JN: I’m sure it’s not going to shatter the Earth, or anything, once we figure out who it is.
JKR: No, to be honest, I really don’t think it will, (MA: No, no.) because I never mentioned them once in the canon, so…
On Harry's dorm door it says, "Second Years." It doesn't say Second Years room A" or anything like that. He only has four roommates because there are only four other students in his year in Gryffindor.
There could be more or less students in other houses, but in Gryffindor, in Harry's year, there are ten students. _________________ ^made by Fiendfyre
Makes sense for the Gryffindor's. Cant refute it if the author says it!
But I also doubt the Sorting Hat splits students exactly equal through the houses. I'm positive that, because it's based on personality, some houses will get more than others (I'd think Hufflepuff would have the largest amount of new students a year).
Again, I said earlier than this was all speculation, because it's not bluntly stated and it's not like we can run on over to Hogwarts and make a tally. A think Ginny's statements, combined with my own, show a number in excess of 300, but smaller than 600. I think we all agree that it is much less than the thousand students Rowling estimated.
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