What is the likelihood that Jamal's child will be a carrier for sickle cell disease?

To determine the likelihood that Jamal's child will be a carrier for sickle cell disease, it is important to understand the inheritance patterns of this genetic condition. Sickle cell disease is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin gene, and it is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. This means that both parents must pass on the sickle cell allele for the child to be affected by the disease itself.

If Jamal is a carrier (meaning he has one normal hemoglobin gene and one sickle cell gene, denoted as AS where A is the normal allele and S is the sickle cell allele), and if the other parent is also a carrier (AS), or affected (SS), we can assess the possible genetic outcomes for their children.

In the case where both parents are carriers (AS), there are several genetic combinations that can arise in their offspring:

1. AA (normal)

2. AS (carrier)

3. AS (carrier)

4. SS (affected)

From this, we see that there is a 25% chance for each child to inherit AA, a 50% chance to inherit AS (making them a carrier), and a 25% chance to inherit SS (sickle cell disease). Thus,