Question

Error Analysis: What might be the reason that some of your percentages didn’t exactly match your predicted results?

Gametes aren’t responsible for inheritance.

Mice don’t have large litters, so the sample size was not large enough.

The wrong type of mice were used.

Answer 1

The likely reasons are #2 and #3 — not #1.

- Gametes aren’t responsible for inheritance: incorrect — gametes do carry the alleles that determine offspring genotypes, so this is not a valid source of error.
- Mice don’t have large litters, so the sample size was not large enough: valid — small sample sizes lead to sampling error and deviations from expected Mendelian ratios.
- The wrong type of mice were used: valid — if parents weren’t the expected genotypes/strains (not true‑breeding, misidentified phenotype, or different alleles), the observed ratios will differ.

Fixes: increase sample size, verify parental genotypes/strain, control crosses and record keeping.