Line following: odd or even number of sensors?

7th graders make Lego Mindstorm line following robots with just 1 light/dark sensor. Having 5-6-7-8 seems like overkill.

I hated using only one light sensor so one of my first electronics projects was making a light sensor array, however, I was reviewing the Mindsensors web sight recently and they now sell an array with 8 Light sensors!