If you meet a man with (naturally) red hair, what is the probability that neither of his parents has red hair?

Hints: About 2% of the world population has red hair. You can assume that the alleles for red hair are purely recessive. Also, you can assume that the Red Hair Extinction theory is false, so you can apply the Hardy–Weinberg principle.

Question

If you meet a man with (naturally) red hair, what is the probability that neither of his parents has red hair?

Hints: About 2% of the world population has red hair.  You can assume that the alleles for red hair are purely recessive.  Also, you can assume that the Red Hair Extinction theory is false, so you can apply the Hardy–Weinberg principle.

anonymous · Answer

this question belongs in science or some branch of science

anonymous · Answer

It's a math problem. Why doesn't it belong in mathematics?

anonymous · Answer

It's actually a very good application of Bayes' Theorem

anonymous · Answer

It belongs more in science because the people in science are more likely going to know about this than the people in math.
Also, even though this question is math-related, in science you generally apply math, so you can assume that the people in science know math.

anonymous · Answer

And exactly what part of this problem would 'people in science' know more about than the 'people in math'?

anonymous · Answer

Hmm maybe you're right.... I'm gonna post this one in the Physics, Chem, Bio, and Computer Science sections!