Anyone know how to calculate the changes in population...?

Question

In my Zoology class we were given a set of problems to workout. I am lost and confused. My profressor is going over the Hardy-Weinburg Principle which implies that heredity itself doesn't cause changes in the frequencies of various forms of the same allele. There's more to the principle but I am not going to write all of it. I know there are two formulas: p squared+2pq+q squared=1 and p+q=1.

The problem I am stuck on is: A populaton of 6,000 people who dwell on a remote south sea island is in gentic equilibrium. There are 1500 people who are homozygous recessive for a trait resulting in six fingers on the left hand. There are only two different types of alleles for fingers in the population. Determine the allele frequencies and then calculate the number of heterozygous and homozygougs dominant people on the island. Can anyone give me some sugguestions on how to start this problem?

Answer 1

yep I can.
Go straight to your tutor and say I dont understand - no good getting the correct answer without comprehension.

good luck