Question

The notation p and q of the Hardy Weinberg equation represent ________ of a diploid organism.

(a) frequency of allele p

(b) frequency of only allele A

(c) frequency of the only allele a

(d) frequency of allele A and a

This question was addressed to me in a national level competition.

This interesting question is from Hardy-Weinberg Principle-2 topic in portion Evolution of Biology – Class 12

Answer 1

Right answer is (d) frequency of allele A and a

The best explanation: Individual frequencies can be represented as p and q. But for a diploid organism, p and q explain the frequency of allele A and allele a. p^2 represents AA whereas q^2 represent aa.