Module 6 Lesson 5 - 5

Lesson Summary

Using mathematical calculations to generate probabilities can help us to predict the outcomes of various crosses quickly and accurately. However, doing so can be challenging for some students. If you found this lesson difficult, remember that you can solve these kinds of problems by constructing Punnett squares and completing them carefully.

Now, you should have a basic understanding of probabilities, which will enable you to report chances easily in the form of fractions, decimals, or percentages.

During this lesson, you were to consider this focusing question:

• How can ratios be used to analyze types of inheritance or to predict the possibility of a trait appearing in the next generation?

Through the practice questions and the coin toss lab, you had opportunity to practise using ratios to do just that. By adding or multiplying the probabilities of individual traits, you have been able to predict the possible phenotypic outcomes of the next generation for two or three traits. This can help answer genetic problems much more quickly than drawing large Punnett squares.