The inheritance of genes is vital to our existence. Genes are hereditary units containing DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and are passed from parent to offspring. The DNA provides instructions for the formation of proteins and as a result, genes are the main element responsible for the different traits we acquire as we mature. Genes are contained in chromosomes. There are 46 chromosomes in each cell (bar the gametes) and each chromosome contains a single long strand of DNA with thousands of genes and millions of nitrogenous base pairs1.
For this report I will be focusing on the genetics of height whilst examining a sample of 351 students. Height is an example of continuous variation where traits ‘are not one of two discrete characters, but …show more content…
Just one hundred years ago, the average height of adult males in Ireland was 166.4cm and only 154cm in Females. There has been a significant increase over the last century and today the average height of Irish males is 178.9cm and the average height of Irish females 165.1cm4. There are many reasons as to why this may have occurred but the most obvious are improvement in living conditions and healthcare, education, decrease in disease and parents opting for smaller family sizes3. We also can see the one thing that has not changed is the difference between the heights of males and females. Males have been consistently taller than females and no one is entirely sure as to why this is true. Similar trends were and are seen throughout Western …show more content…
I am also wary of the smaller sample size especially when the female and male heights are separated. This will give me a higher standard error of the mean and thus lower the accuracy of the experiment especially in relation to the entire population.
Results
I organised the data into three columns; male, female and all. I was then able to calculate some statistics of each in order to compare them. As I anticipated, the standard error of the mean was quite high due to the small sample size; approx. 61% (male heights), 43% (females) and 50% with both combined.
For males and females, the standard deviation was between 6 and 7 centimetres above or below the mean and as expected it was higher at 9.4cm for all the data together.
In both males and females, the mean, mode and median were almost equal. In males they were approximately 178cm, 178cm and 179cm respectively and 164.6cm, 164 and 162 in
For this report I will be focusing on the genetics of height whilst examining a sample of 351 students. Height is an example of continuous variation where traits ‘are not one of two discrete characters, but …show more content…
Just one hundred years ago, the average height of adult males in Ireland was 166.4cm and only 154cm in Females. There has been a significant increase over the last century and today the average height of Irish males is 178.9cm and the average height of Irish females 165.1cm4. There are many reasons as to why this may have occurred but the most obvious are improvement in living conditions and healthcare, education, decrease in disease and parents opting for smaller family sizes3. We also can see the one thing that has not changed is the difference between the heights of males and females. Males have been consistently taller than females and no one is entirely sure as to why this is true. Similar trends were and are seen throughout Western …show more content…
I am also wary of the smaller sample size especially when the female and male heights are separated. This will give me a higher standard error of the mean and thus lower the accuracy of the experiment especially in relation to the entire population.
Results
I organised the data into three columns; male, female and all. I was then able to calculate some statistics of each in order to compare them. As I anticipated, the standard error of the mean was quite high due to the small sample size; approx. 61% (male heights), 43% (females) and 50% with both combined.
For males and females, the standard deviation was between 6 and 7 centimetres above or below the mean and as expected it was higher at 9.4cm for all the data together.
In both males and females, the mean, mode and median were almost equal. In males they were approximately 178cm, 178cm and 179cm respectively and 164.6cm, 164 and 162 in