The mean density systems in subsectors on the travellermap is about 25.4, significantly below standard density. Also, I count 335 subsectors that have worlds with imperial allegiances contained within them and 317 of those only have Imperial allegiances, implying about 18 border subsectors.

You are probably correct in that the real reason for the discrepancy is that the number 11,000 was invented before the maps were, and we can imagine the Imperial Propaganda Bureau likes the number 11,000 and computerization in the Imperium isn't at the level where people can easily count for themselves. I never imagined a highly computerized Imperium, incidentally. It just doesn't seem to fit. 

There are some oddities with stellar density and jump performance in Traveller as well. Travellermap has 18 systems within 4 parsec of the Sun, in reality there are at least 32. 

There are 32 worlds within Jump-6, and in reality there are at least 104. The 2dness of the Traveller universe makes trying to fit real average stellar distances between worlds not very workable. The 11,000 world Imperium should fit in a bubble with a radius of only 26 parsecs in the real world. Even presuming only 1/3 stars have habitable worlds, that's a bubble with a radius of of 38 parsec. :/ 




-------- Original Message --------
On January 20, 2018 3:08 AM, Edward Swatschek <xxxxxx@bitslayer.net> wrote:

Amdukan, yes; brain and fingers not in sync.

And I'm wrong about 11,000 being the 1st Imperium world count - it's described as having an extent of 15,000 worlds at its peak.

The real answer is likely that GDW hadn't mapped out all the worlds when they came up with the figure, and just counted out how many subsectors the Imperium covered and assumed standard density.

The Kinunir describes the Imperium as being 281 subsectors and over 11,000 worlds.  At standard density (40 worlds/subsector) you get 11,240.  But it looks like that 281 count includes a lot of partial subsectors along the borders, so that'll bring the actual world count down, even if the Imperium is standard density overall.