← All parts of this equation

Equation 6 · Part 5 · Human Evolution Did Not Stop, and Medicine Is Now Steering It

addition

qn+1=qn/(1+qn)≈0.009901q_{n+1} = q_n/(1+q_n) \approx 0.009901
addition

What this part means

Add the term after the plus sign to the term or group before it.

Its job in the formula

Add the term after the plus sign to the term or group before it.

The passage around this formula

Set s = 1 , the theoretical maximum in which every affected embryo is detected and never implanted: for q = 0.01 , this gives qn+1q_{n+1} = qnq_n/(1+qnq_n) ≈\approx 0.009901 , a reduction of under one-tenth of one percent of the allele’s frequency in a single generation, even at total, universal, perfectly effective screening. The reason the effect is so small is structural, not a modeling artifact: for a rare recessive allele, the overwhelming majority of copies are carried silently in heterozygous carriers, invisible to any selection that acts only on homozygotes, and embryo selection — like natural selection against recessive disease before it — can only ever act on the small fraction of matings…

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.

Open the illustrated addition and subtraction in an equation guide →

Sources cited in the article section

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