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Equation 6 · Part 5 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology

fraction

pt+1=pt(1+s)1+s pt.p_{t+1} = \frac{p_t(1+s)}{1 + s\,p_t}.
fraction

What this part means

Divide the expression above the line by the one below it.

Its job in the formula

The expression above the fraction bar is divided by the complete expression below it. The denominator must not be zero.

The passage around this formula

A basic case illustrates the kind of prediction this apparatus makes possible. For a single locus with two alleles under simple directional selection with selection coefficient s favoring an allele at frequency p , one classical discrete-generation recursion is pt+1=pt(1+s)1+s ptp_{t+1} = \frac{p_t(1+s)}{1 + s\,p_t}. This is a deliberately simplified model — haploid, one locus, constant s , no drift, no linkage — and real populations violate several of its assumptions routinely. Its value is not as a literal forecast of any specific population but as a baseline against which departures (frequency-dependent selection, epistasis, drift-dominated dynamics in small populations) can be identified and measured.

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Learn the underlying idea

A fraction a/b means a divided by b. The top number is the numerator; the bottom number is the denominator, and it cannot be zero.

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Sources cited in the article section

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.