Assuming a parent is heterozygous for a particular gene, the likelihood of passing on the dominant allele is 50%-the same as the likelihood of passing on the recessive allele. Assuming that separate births are independent, what is the probability that exactly five out of the next ten children born receive the recessive allele?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This problem involves a binomial distribution with n = 10 trials (number of children) and p = 0.5 probability of passing on the recessive allele. We want to find the probability of exactly 5 successes (children with recessive allele), which is given by:
P(X = 5) = (10 choose 5) * (0.5)^5 * (0.5)^5
where (10 choose 5) represents the number of ways to select 5 children out of 10. Using a calculator or table, we can simplify this expression to:
P(X = 5) = 0.2461
Therefore, the best choice is B.

Assuming a Parent Is Heterozygous for a Particular Gene, the Likelihood