Single versus Multiple Enrichment: The Probability That a Second-Generation Star Records More Than One First Supernova

Stellar archaeology often proceeds as if a very metal-poor star records a single earlier supernova, because its abundance pattern is then a direct fingerprint of one progenitor. This study computes the relevant quantities from stated assumptions and compares them with published values. The headline results are: P multi at lambda 1 = 0.26; P single at lambda 1 = 0.37; P multi at lambda 0.5 = 0.09; P multi at lambda 2 = 0.59. When the mean is one event per parcel, only about a third of enriched parcels record exactly one event, and a comparable share record two or more. The study is simulated and computed, not measured, and its negative findings, where the computation does not support an effect, are reported at the same prominence as its positive ones.