Question

​in a hypothetical population of 1,000 people, there is a hypothetical trait called pink toe. people who are homozygous dominant have red toes, those who are homozygous recessive have white toes, and those who are heterozygous have pink toes. if 400 people have red toes, the number of people with pink toes is

Answer 1

We solve the problem using the Hardy-Wineberg equation.

Let us start with the homozygous dominant number of red toes trait,

∴ p² = $\frac{400}{1000}$ = 0.4

We have the frequency for red toe trait as p = $\sqrt{0.4}$ = 0.63

Solving for the frequency of white toe trait by using the fact that,

p + q = 1

∴ q = 1 - p = 1 - 0.63 = 0.37

Now we can calculate 2pq in p² + 2pq + q², which is the frequency for pink toes.

∴ 2pq = 2 x 0.63 x 0.37 = 0.47

Therefore, in a population of 1000 people, 47% have pink toes.

Hence 47% of 1000 will be 470.

The answer is 470.