In 1908 Hardy and Weinberg published papers showing that the binomial or multinomial could be applied in genetics to predict the frequencies of genotypes when allele frequencies where known. The formal algebraic proof of this Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Law assumes that there is no mutation in the population. This assumption is necessary, because a. organisms reproduce sexually and litter or family sizes vary. b. populations will exhibit random sampling changes in allele frequency. c. populations are not infinite and the Hardy-Weinberg proof is only a very crude approximation when natural selection is acting. d. populations are not closed and reproduce both sexually and asexually so an infinite size population is required to preserve genetic variation. e. allowing alleles to change would alter their frequencies.
In 1908 Hardy and Weinberg published papers showing that the binomial or multinomial could be applied in genetics to predict the frequencies of genotypes when allele frequencies where known. The formal algebraic proof of this Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Law assumes that there is no mutation in the population. This assumption is necessary, because a. organisms reproduce sexually and litter or family sizes vary. b. populations will exhibit random sampling changes in allele frequency. c. populations are not infinite and the Hardy-Weinberg proof is only a very crude approximation when natural selection is acting. d. populations are not closed and reproduce both sexually and asexually so an infinite size population is required to preserve genetic variation. e. allowing alleles to change would alter their frequencies.
