Answer:
[One aspect of meiosis that generates genetic variation is the random orientation of homologous pairs of chromosomes at metaphase I. Each pair can orient with either its maternal or paternal homolog closer to a given pole; as a result, each pair sorts into daughter cells independently of every other pair.
Due to independent assortment alone, a diploid cell with 2n chromosomes can produce 2^n possible combinations of maternal and paternal chromosomes in its daughter cells. For the cell in this problem (n=3), there are 2³, or 8, possible combinations; for humans (n = 23), there are 2²³, or 8.4 million, possible combinations. Note that when crossing over occurs, the number of possible combinations is even greater.]
Explanation:
