Question

In a population of plants, the allele for red flowers (R) is dominant over the allele for white flowers (r). If 36\% of the population has white flowers, what is the frequency of the recessive allele (r) in the population?

• A. 0.6
• B. 0.4
• C. 0.36
• D. 0.64

Hint:

In Hardy-Weinberg problems, the frequency of the recessive phenotype directly gives \( q^2 \). Take the square root to find the recessive allele frequency (\( q \)), and use \( p + q = 1 \) to find the dominant allele frequency if needed.