Comments on: Discrete continuity in genetics

By: Aaronetic

Aaronetic — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:26:38 +0000

“Is that possible? I couldn’t wrap my brain around the 35% (she may have said 33%).”
Sure, Why wouldn’t it be?
Imagine that one her maternal grandparents is of 2/3 Indigenous-American ancestry, and that one of the said person’s paternal grand parents is of 3/4 Indigenous ancestry. Assuming that neither of the other two grandparents carry any genes exclusive to the indigenous American phylogeny, than each of the said person’s parents will inherit, theoretically, half of their parent’s DNA. One of the person’s parents(the maternal)will be 1/3, .333(33.3%)indigenous-American, while the other parent (the paternal)will be 3/8, .375 (37.5%).
The middle index of 37.5%–what our hypothetical said person would inherit–and 33.3% = 35.4, averaging off at 35%.

By: stacey

stacey — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:14:50 +0000

A friend of mine was discussing someone’s ethnic make-up. Said that the person had been genetically tested and was 35% Native American, 25% Caucasian, and 40% Black. Is that possible? I couldn’t wrap my brain around the 35% (she may have said 33%).

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:55:18 +0000

Thanks. I’m looking forward for that…
Sarah

By: razib

razib — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:30:44 +0000

rss this blog. i’ll post this weekend on what i mean.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 05:00:42 +0000

Hi Razib,
Thanks for the prompt reply. The reason for asking that question is that My husband and I are expecting a baby girl. My husband is black and I’m Egyptian with a very fair skin and brown hair and eyes. Since my background is not in Genetics field, I would be thankful if you explain a little bit more about “gene-gene interaction effects, developmental or environmental variance, etc.” that you mentioned in your answer.
Thaks and good luck,
Sarah

By: razib

razib — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:32:00 +0000

Their kids’ skin will be for sure brown skinned (not by any chance white or black), since
WW BB
%100 WB
Am I right?
assuming no gene-gene interaction effects, developmental or environmental variance, etc. yes.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:24:56 +0000

I just want to make sure that I’m getting it right. Let’s assume that a black man and white woman marry each other (non of them are bi-racial). Their kids’ skin will be for sure brown skinned (not by any chance white or black), since
WW BB
%100 WB
Am I right?

By: razib

razib — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 19:32:55 +0000

wanna bet if i gave a decent sample size that someone wouldn’t nail me with the mathematical definition?

By: RPM

RPM — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 17:57:36 +0000

I like using the binomial distribution not only for its simplicity, but also because it too can approach the normal distribution as the n approaches ∞.
In this case, ∞ ≈ 30. So, the next time someone asks you to count to ∞ you can do it in two shakes of a lambs tail. In this case, 1 shake = 15.