Rattigan ... excellent point.
I enjoyed your mathematical perspective with Congregations A, B and C.
I could only add the following:
If A = B but B < C, then A must also be less than C (or have less publishers than C).
If B doubled its number of publishers but A still equaled B, then 2A = 2B.
I could see the condition where the number of congregation C would be squared or C²
We could then conclude that C² = A + B
or C² - A - B =0
Obviously, if we took the first derivative we would simply have 2C
In any case, I found your hypothesis very interesting. Very interesting analysis.
Rub a Dub