Two dihybrid pea plants (both tall and with purple flowers) are mated. The cross resulted in 9866 progeny, of which 5550 were tall with purple flowers. What are the expected ratios of the other phenotypic classes? Can someone please explain how to get this answer? Help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

A) 1850 Short/white flower
616 Tall/white flower
1850 Short/purple flower
B) 1850 Short/white flower
1850 Tall/white flower
1850 Short/purple flower
C) 616 Short/white flower
1850 Tall/white flower
1850 Short/purple flower
D) 5550 Short/white flower
5550 Tall/white flower
5550 Short/purple flower

The answer is C.

Explanation:

A dihybrid cross is an experiment showing the inheritance of two different traits.

This can be explained by Mendel's law of independent assortment in which he states that: "members of one gene pair segregate independently from other gene pairs during gametes formation".

Hence the four different gametes formed after the cross.

When you arrange the gametes on the top and left side of a Punnett square it'll yield 16 likely results, which are the phenotypic ratios of the cross.

This is demonstrated in the photo files attached to this answer.

1) gene flow

- it is described as the transfer of genes from one population to another population so that frequency of gene is increased.

-a zebra migrates to join a different herd of zebras.

2) natural selection

- a mechanism of evolutionary change in which individuals with advantageous traits survive and reproduce whereas the others ( those that can not adapt) eliminate from the population.

-competition for sunlight leads to taller trees.

3) mutation

- permanent change in the nucleotide sequence of dna ( genetic material) that could have harmful or useful consequences.

-the dna of a snake changes to make its venom stronger.

4) genetic drift - it is a random phenomenon ( that occurs by chance such as fire) that results in change in the gene frequency in a small population.    

-a grassfire randomly sweeps through a population of buffalo and kills most of the animals.

explanation: