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Equation 2 · Part 1 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology

Symbol Δ p

Var⁡(Δp)=p(1−p)2Ne,\operatorname{Var}(\Delta p) = \frac{p(1-p)}{2N_e},
Δp\Delta p

What this part means

Δ p is an argument of the function-like quantity on the left; its role is set by that function’s stated inputs.

Its job in the formula

Δ p is an argument of the function-like quantity on the left; its role is set by that function’s stated inputs.

The passage around this formula

Sewall Wright’s 1931 paper, “Evolution in Mendelian Populations,” added the piece Fisher’s and Haldane’s more deterministic treatments lacked: a formal account of genetic drift, the random change in allele frequency from generation to generation caused by finite population size [ 3 ] . Wright showed that in a randomly mating population of effective size NeN_e , the variance in allele frequency change per generation from sampling alone is Var⁡(Δp)=p(1−p)2Ne\operatorname{Var}(\Delta p) = \frac{p(1-p)}{2N_e}. for a diploid population starting at allele frequency p . This single expression carries a real consequence: small populations can fix or lose alleles by chance alone, independent of whether those alleles are beneficial, neutral, or mildly…

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Learn the underlying idea

A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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