Can someone help me understand the chromosome differences between mitosis and meiosis?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Mitosis ends with two sets of chromosomes identical to the parent cell. Meiosis forms gametes, which are eggs in the female and sperm in the male. These have half the initial cells chromosomes and also some of the chromosomes will have swapped elements in crossovers, leading to more genetic diversity. I've included links to a good page for each: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiosis Please not some terms: diploid, which means the amount of DNA in a normal cell, and haploid, which is the amount in a gamete or half the diploid amount.