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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Observational statements about close and contact binaries are compared with the theoretical consequences of assuming that contact binaries have a common convective envelope. It is concluded that such contact systems cannot be in thermal equilibrium, and that the inefficiency of convective heat transport in the common envelope must be allowed for. Even so, current theory seems to predict about equal numbers of contact and semidetached systems of short period, in conflict with the observations.