What is the likelihood that an event will occur?

• A. Independent assortment
• B. Genotype
• C. Probability
• D. Inheritance

Answer: (C)

Probability is the measure of how likely an event is to occur. In genetics, it lets us express the chance that a particular outcome will happen, such as the likelihood of a certain allele or trait appearing in offspring. It’s calculated as the number of favorable outcomes divided by the total number of possible outcomes and is often shown as a fraction, a decimal, or a percentage. For example, the chance of flipping heads on a fair coin is 1/2, and in a genetic cross, we use probabilities to predict the proportions of offspring genotypes or phenotypes.

Independent assortment describes how genes segregate during gamete formation, and it’s a principle about how different genes behave, not a measure of likelihood. Genotype refers to the genetic makeup of an individual, not how likely an event is. Inheritance is the broader process of passing traits from parents to offspring, not the numerical likelihood of a specific outcome.

So the term that matches the idea of “the likelihood that an event will occur” is probability.