Hardy–Weinberg Theorem

Alan Hastings, University of California, Davis, California, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001741

The Hardy–Weinberg theorem states what the genotype frequencies are, in terms of the gene frequencies, at a single locus, under the simplest assumptions for the genetic processes in a diploid organism. It is essentially the cornerstone on which much of the theory of population genetics has been built.

Keywords: population genetics; selection; variability

 References
    Fisher RA (1935) The logic of inductive inference. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 98: 39–54.
    book Weir BS (1996) Genetic Data Analysis II. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
 Further Reading
    Hardy GH (1908) Mendelian proportions in a mixed population. Science 28: 41–50.
    book Hartl DL and Clark AG (1989) Principles of Population Genetics, 2nd edn. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
    Vithayasai C (1973) Exact critical values of the Hardy–Weinberg test statistic for two alleles. Community Statistics 1: 229–242.
    book Weinberg W (1908) "On the demonstration of heredity in man. Translated by Boyer SH IV (1963)". In: Papers on Human Genetics, pp. 4–15. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Related Sub-Topics:

Population Structure and Genetics
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Article Title: Hardy–Weinberg Theorem
 
How to Cite close
Hastings, Alan(Apr 2001) Hardy–Weinberg Theorem. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001741]